Is the yoke the Lord asks of us too heavy a burden?

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.  For my yoke is easy and my burden  light.”

“I will give you rest.”  The Lord is inviting us to rest in Him.  Is it like the Fourth of July which we had a cookout, a parade, and fireworks?  Is it like taking a vacation in which we get a chance to relax and travel?  Is it like retirement when we can withdraw from a hectic schedule and enjoy leisure time?  Is it just taking a nap when we are feeling especially pressured and or exhausted?

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”  To rest in Jesus is not to flop passively into a state of inactivity or to sink into an exhaustion-induced come but rather to rest purposely and actively in Him.  It is to drink deeply of the Spirit of Jesus.  It is not just an invitation to enjoy a restful time, but to rest in the presence of love.    St Augustine wrote of our need to rest in Jesus:  “Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they come to rest in you.”

The rest that the Lord offers is not just taking a nap; the rest the Lord offers is to live in the presence of the God who is a God of love.  Jesus has asked us to make your home in me as I make mine in you.  The rest that the Lord offers us is that He Himself will sustain us and enliven our spirit by our making our home in Christ Jesus.

In our rest, we need to listen to the voice of Jesus summoning us to a deeper wisdom.  The Gospel message invites us never to forget to listen to the voices of little ones who carry God’s presence.  The “little ones” for me on Friday were the campers at Camp Stella Maris where I went to celebrate Mass.  Their enthusiasm and love of life caused me to pause and wonder and to see the face of God as I celebrated Mass in their presence.  The “little ones” may be incidental parishioners who welcome just a friendly from you.   The “little ones” may be your elderly parents who are no longer as sharp as they once were but still very much contain within them the presence of God. 

The little ones need not be people.  We can interpret them of aspects of ourselves we tend to disown – our weak points, failures, jealousies, feelings of insecurity.  In our faith journey may one day we realize to see reality more clearly we must see the world with the eyes of a child and renounce our need to find security in power or status -- being wise and learned.

This past Wednesday after visiting one of our hospitalized parishioners, I ran into one of our parish ushers/greeters who was going to visit this same elderly parishioner to bring her flowers.  His only contact with this parishioner was as one of our parish ushers.   My strong hunch is that his act of random kindness will enable this elderly parishioner rest in Jesus.

Just as a tree cannot survive unless its roots are firmly planted in soil, we cannot grow in the spiritual life unless we take the time to rest in Christ Jesus.  This is prayer.  Mindfulness of God rises slowly, the fruit of our prayer.  To pray is to take notice of the wonder and mystery of life.  Prayer is all we can offer in return for the mystery by which we live.  Prayer doesn’t light up the sky in a fireworks display, but it does open us up to the wisdom of God that is within us.

Prayer is our relationship, our encounter with the Lord.  In prayer, sometimes we use words, and sometimes words are not necessary.  Just as in the deep human relationships of our lives, words are beautiful and needed at times, but at other times it is simply enough to be in the presence of the one you love.  So it is in the ways we encounter the Lord.

Jesus says:  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.  Is the yoke that the Lord is asking of us a heavy burden?  Do we feel overwhelmed by the crosses of our life?  Is the Lord asking too much of us?

The yoke the Lord is asking of us is the yoke of mission.  We are to share in the mission of Jesus.  The yoke the Lord is witnessing and living out the law of love.  The yoke we are given is the mission of love, the great commandments.

Our yoke is too heavy a burden only when we try to carry our yoke alone, when we try to be a lone ranger in the spiritual life.

It is so important for us to know and deeply believe that we are never alone.  Jesus is with us and Jesus carries our burden along with us.  The yoke we embrace is a vision that we are better together.  We do what we do only in Christ Jesus who strengthens us.

The yoke the Lord calls us to is a vision of the Church that is rooted in Christ Jesus, in which we rest and are enlivened by the love of Jesus that is within us, and that we belong to a community of faith that is better together.  Often enough, it takes a trusting childlike trust to experience the merciful ways of God in our lives.  What has been hidden from the wise and the learned has been revealed to the little ones.

There is no better example of this trusting, childlike faith than St Therese of Lisieux in her autobiography, THE STORY OF THE SOUL.  St Therese’s describes her spirituality as the little way.  For St. Therese, everything is grace.  Her “little way” is to do ordinary things with extraordinary love. Because Therese rested in Jesus and trusted in Jesus, everything is grace. 

The One who knows us best, our Gracious God, invites us daily to life shared with God.  Our invitation reads:  “Come as you are.  Bring only yourselves.  Surrender all burdens at the door, anything that keeps from moving joyfully toward God.  Do you trust the sender of this invitation?

Have a blessed day.