Friday 15 July

St Bonaventure

Isaiah 38:1-6, 21-22, 7-8; Canticle Isaiah 38:10-12, 16-17; Matthew 12:1-8

Lay down your burden

Keeping rules and carrying out rituals can be exhausting. Some of us make expressing our faith in God a laborious task, assuming the more difficult we make it for ourselves, the more God will like it. Yet loving God is meant to be a joyful experience. Jesus offers us a way to reach God without all this pain, as he realises we are burdened with sin and its weight keeps us from God.

Thank you Lord for allowing me to let go the heaviness of my sin. Through my reconciliation with you and others, may I be whole again and able to follow you with praise and thanksgiving and a light heart.