Wednesday - Second week of Advent

Jesus said to the crowds: “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.” (Mt 11:28-29).

We are all weary and burdened at times but we can be sure that the Lord takes it away and gives rest for our souls. The Gospel tells: “come to me that are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest”. To which burdens does Jesus refer in the Gospel? In my opinion he refers to the every day things in life that can be a burden for us. The worries about our loved ones, our jobs, people around us getting sick or financial worries.
Sometimes worries can keep us from falling asleep, or stay asleep, at night. It causes us sleepless nights in a literally way. The troubles that burden us are too heavy to carry.  We toss and turn in bed because of the burdens that push heavy on our minds and hearts.  We become tired, anxious and fearful.  

Yet, looking back on other situations in our live we know that things will be fine, as it was before. Things fell in place, maybe not as we wanted them to be, but as God wanted them to be.  We realize that worrying about a lot of things was useless and didn’t bring a solution. My mom always says: “worrying won’t help you, because if it is meant to be you cannot change a thing about it. And if they don’t happen you worried for nothing”. We have to learn that worrying does not change the outcome. When we are burdened, we are burdened by what is confronting us. We become so focused on ourselves instead of our dependence on God.  When we bring our burdens before God in prayer, our perspective changes. Jesus can help us with carry our burdens of life. He is kind, meek and gentle. He will carry the burdens that weigh us down. In Him we have a place of light and refreshment where we can unload our burdens and refreshment for our souls. But to receive it we need to spend time with Jesus in prayer and sacrament. In the Holy Eucharist he comes to us in a very special way.  When we receive Him we are called to become bread to  others. We can do that in being generous, kind and gentle in all our ways.

Jesus used the analogy of a yoke to explain how we can exchange the burden to a life of joy and glory. The yoke which Jesus invites us to embrace is his way of grace. The question is whether we will trust in God’s love and submit to his will for our life. We pray that the Lord may set our hearts on fire with love for Him and always submit to his will.
“We ask Him to give us grace and free us from our burdens and our narrow minded vision for our life. That He may show us the way of joy, love and grace. Amen.