20220714 PUTTING ON THE YOKE OF JESUS
14 July, 2022, Thursday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Isaiah 26:7-9,12,16-19 © |
'Awake and exult, all you who lie in the dust'
The path of the upright man is straight,
you smooth the way of the upright.
Following the path of your judgements,
we hoped in you, O Lord,
your name, your memory are all my soul desires.
At night my soul longs for you
and my spirit in me seeks for you;
when your judgements appear on earth
the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity.
O Lord, you are giving us peace,
since you treat us
as our deeds deserve.
Distressed, we search for you, O Lord;
the misery of oppression was your punishment for us.
As a woman with child near her time
writhes and cries out in her pangs,
so are we, O Lord, in your presence:
we have conceived, we writhe
as if we were giving birth;
we have not given the spirit of salvation to the earth,
no more inhabitants of the world are born.
Your dead will come to life,
their corpses will rise;
awake, exult,
all you who lie in the dust,
for your dew is a radiant dew
and the land of ghosts will give birth.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 101(102):13-21 © |
The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.
You, O Lord, will endure for ever
and your name from age to age.
You will arise and have mercy on Zion:
for this is the time to have mercy,
for your servants love her very stones,
are moved with pity even for her dust.
The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord
and all the earth’s kings your glory,
when the Lord shall build up Zion again
and appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers.
The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.
Let this be written for ages to come
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
for the Lord leaned down from his sanctuary on high.
He looked down from heaven to the earth
that he might hear the groans of the prisoners
and free those condemned to die.
The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.
Gospel Acclamation | cf.Ps129:5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
My soul is waiting for the Lord,
I count on his word.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt11:28 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 11:28-30 © |
My yoke is easy and my burden light
Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.’
PUTTING ON THE YOKE OF JESUS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ISA 26:7-9,12,16-19; MT 11:28-30]
All of us have many burdens in life, regardless who we are. No one is exempted from the weight of responsibility. Parents feel responsible for their children and their elderly. Children have a duty towards their parents and seek to do well in life. Those at work or holding public office are accountable to their organization or to the people under their care. Life is challenging and we all feel the burden of life. More so when we meet trials, challenges, and difficulties whether at work or in dealing with relationships in family life, health, and financial stability. At times, we feel like giving up. Some even wish death to come earlier so that they could be freed from the burden of life.
So it is indeed consoling to hear the words of our Lord, “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.” If we are overburdened, tired, disillusioned, despondent, and anxious, we must begin by coming to the Lord. This is the first step we should take. Instead of looking for solutions from the world, reacting to difficult situations, allowing influential forces to control us, or being emotionally blackmailed by our loved ones or the power brokers in our life, we should turn to the Lord. There is nothing more satisfying and helpful than to seek the Lord in prayer, in silent contemplation of His love and His word. The failure to turn to the Lord, the failure to make time for solitude and prayer is the cause of more anxiety and mistakes. The Lord Himself fled to the hills to pray alone many times; when people’s demands were pressing on Him (Mk 1:35-39), or when He felt sad to hear of the execution of His cousin, John the Baptist. (Mk 6:14-27; 45,46) He said to His disciples, “because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” (MK 6:31) Most of all, when we are in great distress like Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane, He sought courage and strength from His Father.
Why does the Lord invite us to come to Him? First of all, to experience His love, to bask in His love. Often in life, when we know we are not alone, we can bear the burden and the pains of carrying out the tasks given to us. More often than not, people, especially our loved ones, cannot resolve our problems. They cannot carry the cross we are carrying. But they can lighten our crosses through their love, concern, care, and constant prayers for us. When we know that they are behind us and we are not alone, we will find that extra strength to battle on in life. So Jesus asks us to come to Him and bask in His love, just as He did when He was facing challenges in life. At Mount Tabor, the heavenly Father affirmed Him, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Mt 17:5) Jesus needed assurance and confirmation of the Father’s love for Him as He was on His way to Jerusalem to face His passion.
Secondly, we are called to come to Him to be enlightened. Jesus will certainly speak to us, enlighten us, inspire us, encourage us and direct us by His word. As St Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.” (Jn 6:68f) Jesus said to His disciples earlier on, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Mt 11:25-27) Jesus will reveal to us His Father’s plan for us. When we understand His plan for us, we will be able to submit more easily because we know we are doing the Father’s will. Jesus will give us the confidence and the assurance that we are not carrying the cross in vain but that a greater good will come out of it. By coming to Jesus, we see everything from the perspective of God’s love and plan for us.
This is what the Lord meant when He said, “Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” The yoke that one carries in life could refer to the yoke of obeying the commandments of God and the yoke of doing His holy will. But this yoke is made easy if only we carry with the same heart and mind of our Lord. So when Jesus asks us to shoulder His yoke, He is asking us to carry our burden with Him. We should never carry the burden ourselves because we will be overwhelmed. But when we carry with Jesus, He will make light the yoke for us by helping us to carry our burden rightly, that is, in His perspective. Jesus does not take our cross away because it might be necessary for us to carry that cross for our purification and our salvation. But Jesus will teach us to carry the cross positively and courageously.
Jesus tells us, “learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” We need to learn from Jesus how we see life and how we see suffering. Most unhappiness is caused not by the difficulties and challenges of life but because we have a wrong attitude towards such struggles of life. So we must learn from Jesus. This is what the famous classic book of Thomas A Kempis, “The Imitation of Christ” is all about. We are to look at life from the perspective of our Lord and from the gospel teaching. As St Paul said, “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom 12:1f)
This is also what Isaiah is teaching us when he wrote, “the path of the upright man is straight, you smooth the way of the upright. Following the path of your judgements, we hoped in you, Lord, your name, your memory are all my soul desires. At night my soul longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you; when your judgements appear on earth the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity.” Isaiah tells us that we must walk straight and keep ourselves upright by hoping and focusing on the Lord. When we yearn for His presence, when our spirit seeks His light, truth, and love, we will live a righteous life, without fear or favour with regard to the opinions of man. We will walk the way of truth. This does not mean we will have an easy life, but we will have peace of mind and heart knowing that we are doing the will of God. At the end of the day, peace in our hearts is what will give us rest. If we are restless, it is because our conscience is unsettled, because we have not done the right thing.
People fail to realize that their restlessness is due to the absence of God in their lives. Instead of turning to God, they turn to the passing pleasures of life to give them some relief, or even to people for emotional support. What they must turn to is to God Himself. Many unfortunately do not recognize that the unease of our hearts and the sufferings we go through are ways when God seeks to bring us to a greater realization that without Him we can do nothing. Isaiah noted that God’s chastisement will indeed purify us instead of weakening us. He said, “Lord, you are giving us peace, since you treat us as our deeds deserve. Distressed, we search for you, Lord; the misery of oppression was your punishment for us. As a woman with child near her time writhes and cries out in her pangs, so are we, O Lord, in your presence: we have conceived, we writhe as if we were giving birth; we have not given the spirit of salvation to the earth, no more inhabitants of the world are born. Your dead will come to life, their corpses will rise; awake, exult, all you who lie in the dust, for your dew is a radiant dew and the land of ghosts will give birth.”
What is required of us to come to this peace and rest is to be humble. Humility is a prerequisite for us to come to the Lord. Those of us who are proud, overconfident of ourselves, thinking we can solve all the problems without God, will not be able to find God because they are not ready to listen to His voice that is spoken through others, or His word that is found in the scriptures. Humility and consciousness of our limitations will help us to go down on our knees and pray to God for strength, wisdom and faith. We must learn from our mistakes, our trials in life, our suffering so that we will come to grow in wisdom, in understanding and in truth. So let us come to Jesus, learn from Him gentleness and humility so that we find rest.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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