Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
How often do you call out for help? Maybe not as often as you might need to. I know I don’t. Sometimes we want to do it all on our own, or maybe it’s not even that we want to, but that we think we need to. We forget what’s available to us.
Cody Carnes sings “I’ve carried a burden, for too long on my own” in the opening line of his song Run to the Father. I think for so many of us this lyric can hit home. What burdens are you carrying on your own? The song continues “I hear your invitation, to let it all go. I see it now, I’m laying it down, all I know is I need you” and he sings about running to the Father in the refrain.
What is heavy on your heart these days? What burdens are you carrying alone? Can you imagine the relief you might feel if you ran to God your Father and laid them all down at His feet?
Our world values independence. We value strength and sturdiness. On social medias and in the hallways everyone you scroll past or walk by seems to have their act completely together. But the truth is, most of us are carrying burden far too big to carry on our own for far too long.
In the Responsorial Psalm today the psalmist writes “on the day I called for help, you answered me.” It is an invitation to call out to our God. The truth is, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Mt 6:8). There is nothing we can hide from God; He knows us and sees us. He wants us to call to Him when we need help, and on that day, He will answer us.
In the Gospel for this weekend Luke tells us the same message.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive;
seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives;
and the one who seeks, finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
So, what are you waiting for? You don’t have to go through your struggles alone. Run to the Father. Lay your burdens down. Knock and the door will be opened. Today, call out for help.
