Advent week 2 Wednesday

Gospel

Mt 11:28-30
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.”

Reflection

The question from Bishop Barron:
Being yoked to Christ means we turn all control of our lives over to him. can you do that? Do you want to?

Oh, yes. I want to turn control over to Him to be freed from the tyranny of self, the little jealousies, hurts, desires, and impulses that plague my days despite strengthening spiritual practices aimed at creating free spaces in my essence where the truth and the word can seep in and fill even the smallest of margins, where e can be more and I will be less

When Christ to the crowds, he was referring to the burden of Pharisee dominated interpretation of the law. There was no freedom to chose or evaluate the choices of even the smallest measure. The offer was to lay down all of that burden, the overwhelming demands of the law to take up only two rules. One, to love God and the other to love your neighbor as yourself.

That gives us the freedom to chose how to serve those two laws. Is it to be of community service? Is it to be available to listen to a brother with a wounded heart? Is it to honor your family as Jesus honors us? Is it to be a good example for others? The list of questions goes on and on to a point beyond 7x7 or 49x49. There is no limit to what we can do that reflects the spirit of the Lord working on, in, and through our beings.

Can I yield complete control? For a moment, yes. Do I want to? Yes, every time the question is posed to me or if I think of it. In this matter, however, there is like all other issues of faith and belief, only progress and not perfection.