Take My Yoke Upon You

As we continue through Advent toward Christmas we see this very familiar saying.  Look at the beauty of the words that our Savior gave us:

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.”

Rest.   That's what we are all after, isn't it?  With the fast pace and bustle of the world.  With work, school, obligations, sports, friendships, family, hobbies... there is no shortage at all of things that need to be done.  How much do these things fill our lives to the point that we are indeed burdened and in need of authentic rest.  Jesus tells us to take his yoke on us.   Wait? What?   You want us who are already burdened to put on a yoke?  A yoke is a tool used with beasts of burden... It is to harness them to the load and have them pull it.. .how is that restful? 

It's because the yoke that Jesus wants us to put on.. is a training yoke.   You see when you have a new ox, a new animal that you want to train to work on a farm, you harness it to one that is experienced.  The one with the experience shows the new one what to do.  Where as you can train them the hard way.. making them learn from their mistakes... letting them rub themselves raw against the yoke until they finally figure out the right way to do things... When you harness them to an experienced worker they learn from that worker, faster.. easier.. sharing the load.   They still have to do the work, but the work doesn't seem as hard.. and they get the support of the one who already knows what to do. 

That's what Jesus wants from us.  That's what Advent is about.  It's about getting ready for Christ to be born in our hearts.  It's about putting on the yoke that we share with Christ.   If you look at the beautiful year of Mercy Logo.. think of that.. Jesus is carrying the man.  They share one eye, the share a human nature.  Jesus is doing the work, but the man is benefiting.  Jesus is carrying him where he needs to go. He is teaching him.  That doesn't mean that the man will never have to work... but that Jesus is with him all the way.. to help him, to show him how to do it right, to give him support and learning.

What does that mean for us?   The first reading says that God "is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny."  Think of that for a moment.. the person you are yoked with.. the one teaching you how to live, how to grow, how to work, how to be more perfectly human... will never grow weary of helping you. He'll never give up.  He has all the answers.  How much lighter indeed is the yoke of Christ knowing that we have him as our support?  That we are never alone and he is always by our side. 

It reminds me of a poem that my grandmother had in her living room growing up. 


Footprints in the Sand

One night I had a dream.

I dreamed I was walking along the beach
with the Lord..

Across the sky flashed scenes from my life..
For each scene, I noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand,
one belonging to me, and the other to the Lord..

When the last scene of my life flashed before me,
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
I noticed that many times along the path of my life
there was only one set of footprints.
I also noticed that it happened at the very lowest
and saddest times in my life.

This really bothered me
and I questioned the Lord about it:
"Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why
when I need you most you would leave me."

The Lord replied:
"My precious child, I love you and would
never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints, it was then
that I carried you."

by Mary Stevenson

His servant and yours,

Brian

Be Holy, As I AM Holy

Today's readings bring to mind something I have been meditating on a lot lately.  The concept of Holiness.  We all have so many varied definitions of Holiness, from being set apart, to being like God, to even the notion that being Holy means being free from sin.  Recently though someone brought to my attention  something that today's first reading says clearly:

Then he said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  Exodus 3:5

The ground itself can be Holy.  Holy then doesn't mean free from sin... because the ground cannot sin.  It's just a part of creation and God said that all of creation was good, so what makes this ground different than another ground? Why is the ground over there not Holy, but this ground is?  The presence of God.  That's an interesting thing to think about.  Our Sanctuary is Holy at the church because God is present in the tabernacle.   Our churches are Holy.   Our Priests can rightly be called Holy, because they have God in them.  It's not about them not having sin.  It's not about them being perfect.  It's about them being ordained, having the Spirit of God in them.

Then a thought struck my mind.   We as Catholics believe that we are to look for Jesus in every face we meet.   "Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me."   Every person is made in the image of God.. regardless of their sin, regardless of their realization of it.. they have an inherit dignity.  Doesn't that in a way make all of creation Holy?  If Jesus is walking around everywhere.. shouldn't we be treating all of our life as if we were in a Holy place?

We often act different in 'church' than we do in public, and much more so in private.   Yet if we think about the fact that God is omnipresent... he is everywhere... not just in the burning bush, but also in the dirty bedroom.   Not just in the tabernacle, but in the congregation.   Not just in the Priest, but in the laity....   Then shouldn't we be authentic everywhere?  And that person we are in church.. should be the person we are everywhere.. because we should strive to become the man we think we should be there.  

So what about you?  Do you take your shoes off in the presence of God?  If we think of shoes as 'flesh', as the sinful nature we have... do you attempt to remove your shoes period?  Because this ground your standing on.. that's Holy ground.

Holy Week

Holy week is always a tremendous time spiritually for me. When we as Catholics go through our ceremonies of reading the gospel together, actively participating in carrying the cross, or even watching as some of our members get their feet washed by our priest; all tend to move me to really think about the Passion of our Lord and Savior. This year has been especially moving, I think because last year was so vibrant and moving that I missed parts of it (being the year I came into the church.)

What struck me as particularly moving, was a moment I haven't spent much time thinking about. As Father Don was preparing to wash the feet of these wonderful people in front of me, he took off his covering (outer robe.) and stood before us in just a stark white linen garment. It dawned one me that I didn't really think about the fact that Father Tim had done the same thing last year. Here they stood before me, just as Jesus was before his Apostles. Jesus had taken his robe off and was wearing a towel around his waist.

My mind began to wonder in awe... What must it have been like, to know that the Son of God was kneeling before you.. stripped of his outer garments? Like a servant. Bowing to wash the dirt and grime of this world, of soil that was foreign to them, soil that many still thought made them unclean. Here was the King of Glory, washing their feet. A menial task. Something meant for the servant, or for the help.

Do we realize the amount of humility it must have taken? For someone fully human, to bow themselves, knowing they had all the glory of Heaven.. but emptying themselves of it to wash a foot?  Then we see our priests, even our pope, kneeling and washing feet, and some of them kissing them in humility, every Easter. How often we criticize them for the smallest of faults! That one is angry! That one is lazy! That one, well he's just waiting for retirement.... But today.. regardless of faults.. they knelt and washed feet.

Have you allowed Jesus to wash your feet? Think about what that means. As he told Saint Peter, "If I do not wash  you, you have no part of me." Think long and hard on this next passage, it's powerful to think of during this time of reflection as we approach Easter Sunday.

When he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.  For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.  Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

As the service finished  and Father Don walked to the front and began to put his robes back on I thought, someone should help him.. he has done so much for us today, kneeling through his pain, walking with visible pain up the steps to get to his robe.. Do we realize what he has done for us? He has reminded us of Christ... how much more powerful a gift can he give?

In Christ,
Brian