Fourteenth Saturday of Ordinary Time

Be glad you lowly ones; may your hearts be glad! You descendants of Abraham, his servants, sons of Jacob, his chosen ones! He, the LORD, is our God; throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

The world tells us being lowly is to be a failure. It tells us being meek and humble is to be forgotten. It tells us choosing service to God over service to self is enslavement. However, nothing can lead us to triumph faster than to yield our wills to God. Nothing can lead to spiritual success more rewarding than to make ourselves into good and faithful servants to God. Nothing can make us happier than to become the trusting children of God.

Are we lowly, meek, and humble? How can we become faithful servants to God? What can we do to depend more perfectly on our Heavenly Father?

O Lord, help us to be lowly and glad.

Amen.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary 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.

We all labor and are burdened, but not all of us have rest. When we do not pray to God for the graces to accomplish our works, we shall be crushed be them. When we do not take the time to listen in silence to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, we shall lose our way and fall into the pits and snares of the Devil. When we do not have faith in God, we lose hope, become paralyzed by our fears, and are suffocated by our worries. When we do not turn to God and the sign of the cross in our times of need, then we turn our backs on God and abandon Him in selfish despair. However, if we take upon ourselves the yoke of faith, becoming meek and humble of heart as Jesus did in his own life, then we shall find rest. We shall discover that the grace of God makes our labors easy and our burdens light. Not that we will be spared sacrifices and sufferings, but our hearts are filled with the peace that comes from letting go and letting God lift us into His arms... allowing Him to take up our burdens.

Do we come to God in all our labors and burdens? Are we willing to take upon ourselves the yoke of the Christ-like life? How can we become meek and humble of heart?

O Lord, we accept the yoke of doing your will.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, Virgin

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.

We all have labors and burdens in our lives. We toil to keep ourselves clothed, sheltered, and fed. We toil to overcome our temptations, anxieties, and doubts. We toil to increase our knowledge and wisdom. We toil to know, love, and serve our God and our neighbors. All of these things could wear us down with worries and work, but if we take upon ourselves the yoke of Christ and learn how to be meek and humble, then we can carry any burden. God never gives us more than we can handle. He always gives us the graces we need. All we have to do is to give up the yoke of pride and accept the yoke of humble faith. Once we do that, all our burdens will be light compared to the strength of our faith, hope, and love.

Do we seek God when we have labors and burdens that are weighing us down? Are we willing to put on the yoke of meekness and humility? Are we willing to let go of our pride and seek God’s help in our daily lives?

O Lord, we accept your yoke with meek and humble hearts.

Amen.

Second Wednesday of Advent

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.

Jesus’ Good News is an easy yoke to bear compared to the burdens of the Law. His commandments can be boiled down to two: Love God with all your hearts, souls, minds, and strengths and love your neighbor as God loves you. Some might find these two commandments difficult to do, especially if they have been mistreated by others or doubt God’s love for them. However, Jesus is telling us all the truth. If we all loved properly, there would be no burden in our lives, we would have the rest that comes from the inner peace of doing God’s Will. It is our own anxieties, worries, doubts, fears, sins, and imperfections that weigh us down and lead us astray. They shackle us to worldly things which run us ragged and never give us rest. The only way to find the rest we need is to be like Jesus, meek and humble of heart. We must be willing to put aside our pride and forgive those who persecute us so we can love them just as God loves them in spite of their faults. We, like Jesus, should give others every chance to do the right thing. We also need to realize we do not have a right to be free of suffering in our lives. Jesus, the sinless servant of all, suffered a thousand times worse than any of us have and yet we, in our pride, think we ought to be spared any evil. How can the metal of our souls be tested if we do not undergo periods of suffering in our lives. And when we do suffer, we should unite our trials with those of Jesus for the reparation of sins, the conversion of sinners (especially ourselves), and the salvation of souls.

Are we willing to take up the yoke of Christ and love God and our neighbors properly? What have we been doing to cultivate meek and humble hearts? Are we also willing to undergo our own passions so that a greater good can come out of them?

O Lord, we accept your yoke with meek and humble hearts.

Amen.

Thirtieth Saturday of Ordinary Time

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline at table in the place of honor. A more distinguished guest than you may have been invited by him, and the host who invited both of you may approach you and say, ‘Give your place to this man,’ and then you would proceed with embarrassment to take the lowest place. Rather, when you are invited, go and take the lowest place so that when the host comes to you he may say, ‘My friend, move up to a higher position.’”

Humility is an important virtue for all of us to cultivate throughout our lives. We are constantly tempted to commit acts of pride, such as seeking to be recognized for the good we’ve done, bragging about our successes, etc. However, this is not what we are called to do. Jesus gives us a better way: the little way of humility. When we act out of meekness, rather than boasting, we imitate Christ’s model of spiritual modesty. This may be difficult for most of us to do, but it is necessary if we want to share in Jesus’ life. So the next time we are tempted to seek honor, let us remember that the honor of this world is nothing but chaff before God.

Do we continually cultivate a spirit of humbleness? What are we prideful about? How can we teach ourselves to be meek when confronted with these temptations?

O Lord, may we learn to be meek and mild, especially when confronted with the temptation to be prideful.

Amen.