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.