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Theo Tigno•
7/13/2011 6:12 pm
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Thursday, July 14th 2011 |
Matthew 11: 28-30
Jesus said: "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."
Dawg's Thought:
Today's prayer intention - for those who have been through surgery and are recovering, especially for Bill Agar Sr. and Mary England.
Today's reflection comes from Blessed Pope John Paul the Great:
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Christ is the "faithful witness." This fidelity--in seeking exclusively the Father's glory and not his own--is a result of the love which he intends to prove. "The world must know that I love the Father" (Jn 14:31). However, his revelation of his love for the Father also includes his love for humanity. "He went about doing good" (cf. Acts 10:38). His whole earthly mission was full of acts of love for people, especially for the little ones and those most in need. "Come to me," he said, "all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest" (Mt 11:28). "Come"; this exhortation is not limited to his contemporaries whom Jesus met during the days of his life and suffering on earth. It is a call for the poor of all times, ever relevant even today, always being renewed on the lips and in the heart of the Church.
Parallel to this exhortation there is another: "Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves" (Mt 11:29). Jesus' meekness and humility attract those called to his school: "Learn from me." Jesus is the faithful witness of God's love for humanity. In his testimony divine truth and divine love are united. Therefore, there is a profound conformity, one might almost say an identity, between word and action, between his deeds and his teaching. Jesus not only taught that love is the supreme commandment, but he himself fulfilled it in the most perfect manner. The Beatitudes that he taught in the Sermon on the Mount were incarnated in all that he did. Not only did he teach us to love our enemies, but he himself lived out that teaching to the full, especially at the hour of his death on the cross when he said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34).
However, that meekness and humility of heart in no way implied weakness. On the contrary, Jesus is demanding; his is a demanding Gospel. Is it not he who admonishes: "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me"? And a little later: "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Mt 10:38-39). The Gospel language is radical, and so, too, are the actual demands of the following of Christ. He did not hesitate to frequently confirm their full extent: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace upon the earth. I have come to bring not peace but the sword" (Mt 10:34). It is a forceful way of saying that the Gospel is also a source of unease for people. Jesus wishes to make us understand that the Gospel is demanding. This means shaking up consciences, not allowing them to sink into a false "peace" in which they become ever more insensitive and dulled, with the result that spiritual realities would be emptied of value and lose all interest. Jesus said to Pilate, "I came into the world to bear witness to the truth" (Jn 18:37). Those words refer also to the light which he sheds over the entire field of human actions, putting to flight obscurity of thought and especially of conscience in order to secure the triumph of truth in everyone. It is a question, however, of placing oneself on the side of truth. "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice," Jesus will say (Jn 18:37). Hence Jesus is demanding. He is not harsh or inexorably severe, but firm and unambiguous in calling everyone to live in the truth.
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Take care and God Bless.
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