14th Sunday of the Year

14^th Sunday

‘Come to Me all you who labour and over burdened and I will give you rest’, says the Lord.

Recently I had the experience of fulfilling an ambition of mine, to walk on the famous Camino de Santiago de Compostela. I read that at least 4,000 Irish people walk some part of the Camino each year. It is increasing in the popular imagination. If you are preparing to walk 16 miles a day and sleep at night with up to 60 (other) snorers in bunk beds, then this is the trip for you!

Seriously, I enjoyed it even with the hardships of hot feet and aching legs on my arrival in Santiago. It was great to be in a supportive group and we egged each other on.

Once the week was over I stayed in another week to hear confessions in the cathedral there.

What surprised me in the course of the week was that 4 non-Catholic Christians approached me asking me to hear their story and some even knelt as if it were confession to all intents and purposes. One Danish Lutheran lady said, ‘I get great comfort coming into a Catholic church.’ Another lady, from Australia, lamented that there was no equivalent in her denomination. Here were people who had walked several weeks of the Camino and now felt the need to express themselves before God in some way. They had reflected on life, on God, on relationships and on their personal strengths and weaknesses that came to light over those weeks. What was moving was the tears of deeply felt emotions, of relief in at last being able to talk, and tears of gratitude as well as of sorrow. Needless to say this was also the experience of the many Catholics who returned to the sacrament after many years. As a priest it was and is a tremendous privilege and a very humbling one. Afterwards some even approached me on the street or in a café thanking me for the opportunity to talk.

It made me reflect on what a great healing gift that the Sacrament of Reconciliation is to us in the Church. Do we appreciate it? When I saw those non-Catholics pining for something, someone, some ritual, I am all the more grateful now.

When Jesus speaks of laying down burdens and seeking rest in Him, my thoughts turn back to the Camino of the daily relief of taking off the walking boots and laying down for a rest. But there are, of course, other burdens, and Jesus in the Gospel this Sunday specifically refers to ‘rest for your souls’. This is a different kind of relief – a deeper need in all of us to be able to unburden ourselves of things that have weighed us down, perhaps emotionally, mentally, spiritually and morally. Is this our experience? Is now the time to heed the words of this Sunday’s Gospel to lay aside our heavy burdens? Might I now encounter Him in Confession/Reconciliation?

On several occasions in the Gospel Jesus invites us with the word ‘COME’ – ‘come and see’, ‘come follow me’. The letters of the word COME can stand for Christ Offers Me Everything, or Christ Offers Me Eternity. Will I now accept?