THURSDAY OF THE FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Today's Gospel is only three verses. Three simple little lines that mean so much. People quote them all the time.
"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." (Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus's words do not mean what most people desire them to mean. A life with Christ is not easy or devoid of difficulties. In my conversation with the Lord this morning, I said what was on my heart. I'll share with you if you promise not to be too appalled. I told the Lord that I love Him, but His love scares me. His love means accepting the blessings and joys He pours out upon me while also enduring the hardships and sorrow that He allows.
In those three verses today, the Lord invites us. He invites the tired, the worried, the burdened. You can pretend to everyone else that you aren't these things, and you can even pretend to yourself. But the Lord knows the darkest corner of your heart where you keep the burdens and troubles that cause you to lose faith in Him. He wants to shine His healing light into that darkness. It is through our hardships and our suffering that we gain the grace to detach ourselves from the things of this life. This is love: to suffer beside our Lord, or rather to invite the Lord into our suffering. No, life with Christ is not free of difficulties, but if we submit ourselves to Him, we gain something greater, an eternity with Him in the Kingdom of Heaven.
He invites us. Do we invite Him?
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