December 11, 2019

Mt 11: 28-30

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.

Bringing our burdens to Jesus

I have a bag problem. Every day, I haul no less than three bags full of electronics, binders, books, and papers to and from school. While lugging my bags in/out of the building, someone usually asks if I need help, and I will politely decline, saying “Oh, no thank you, I’ve got it” (while asking myself, “do you? do you really have it?”).  But the “burdens” we carry around in our bags, backpacks, purses, and totes pale in comparison to the emotional and spiritual burdens we bear each and every day – fear, pride, envy, worry, stress, anxiety, grief. 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites us to share our burdens with him, to allow him to lighten our loads, to ease our minds, and to rest our weary heads and hearts in his gentleness and humility. Jesus also instructs us “learn from me.” He is modeling for us what we are to do for others – to bear each other’s burdens. 

What burdens do you need to bring to Jesus? What keeps you from doing so? Who, in your life, is “weary and carrying heavy burdens”? How can you help that person bear those burdens?

—Jackie Schulte is the Dean of Faculty Formation and a history teacher at Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, NE.

Prayer

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.

—Suscipe of St. Ignatius of Loyola