“Thou has made us for thyself and restless is our heart until it comes to rest in Thee.”

"You should not worry too much about adversities. The world is not as powerful as it seems to be; its strength is strictly limited.. Know, my daughter, that if your soul is filled with the fire of My pure love, then all difficulties dissipate like fog before the sun's rays and dare not touch the soul. All adversaries are afraid to start a quarrel with such a soul, because they sense that it is stronger than the whole world..."~ Jesus to St. Faustina, 1643 ~

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.”

Life can certainly become burdensome at times. We all know this is true. However, those of us who bear the name Christian know the One to whom we can always turn, the Lord Jesus. He says to each of us every morning, "Come to Me".

Today, Jesus' words resound intimate and close. We are conscious that contemporary men and women suffer from considerable pressure(s). Quite often we move away from evangelic simplicity by loading ourselves up with commitments, planning and objectives. We feel overwhelmed and tired of continuously struggling without our effort being worth its while. Recent investigations affirm that nervous breakdowns are on their way up all the time. In fact, in the last two days there were two suicides in the town next to my own.

What are we lacking to feel actually well?

Today, in the light of the Gospel, we may review our conception of God. How do I live and feel God in my heart? What feelings uncover his presence in my life? Jesus offers us his understanding when we feel weary and want to rest: «Come to me, all you who work hard and who carry heavy burdens and I will refresh you» (Mt 11:28). Maybe we have fought for perfection while, deep inside, the only thing we wanted was to feel loved. In Jesus' words we find a response to our crisis of meaning.

Jesus' proposal —«Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...» (Mt 11:29)— implies following his benevolent style of life (to wish good to everybody) and his heart’s humility (virtue referring to keeping our feet on the ground for only divine grace can make us ascend).

To be a disciple demands our accepting Jesus' yoke, while remembering his yoke is «good» and his burden is «light». I do not know, however, whether we are convinced this is really so.

To live as a Christian in our present world is not such an easy thing, for we have to opt for values that go upstream. Not to get carried away by money, prestige or power demands a great effort, I will go so far to say a super-natural effort. If we want to achieve it by ourselves, it may become an impossible task. But with Jesus everything is possible and good. That is why we need the sacraments my friends, Communion and Confession, the one-two punch!

Jesus gave us the Catholic Church not to “burden” us down with “rules” but to help us live a life that transcends our broken human nature, to be truly free, to feel joy in our heart and to be an instrument of peace in the world.

The alternative to that lifestyle is the true burden.