God had one son on earth without sin, but never one without suffering

As iron is fashioned by fire and on the anvil, so in the fire of suffering and under the weight of trials, our souls receive that form which our Lord desires them to have.--St. Madeline Sophie Barat

(Gospel text: Mt 11:28-30)

Jesus said:

"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."

Imagine yourself coming to Jesus with this huge burden on your back. Jesus takes the burden off your shoulders. Before you even can thank Him and walk away unburdened, He takes a load off of His back and puts it on yours. For some reason, however, His yoke is easy and His burden light (Mt 11:30). Why? Because this is Jesus' burden, He is bearing most of the weight. In a way, you become another Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry the cross (Lk 23:26). You even come to find that you are rested and strengthened in carrying this cross.

The irony here is and what the human race tries to rationalize way is, you're made to carry this cross.

Realistically, we cannot be unburdened in this life on earth. We can only be re-burdened with Jesus' burden, the cross. Pretending that we can unburden ourselves makes life more burdensome. We make life harder by trying to make it easier. Paradoxically, the most dreaded burden by main stream society today, that is, the cross, is the easiest to carry because Jesus carried it. It is in striving to carry the cross that we enter into His rest (see Heb 4:11).

Take up your cross daily (Lk 9:23) and get the best rest you'll get on this earth.