Burdens

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.”

In today’s gospel passage (Mt 11:28-30), Jesus invites us to go to him with our burdens and sorrows. So we should go to him and, indeed, we will find our rest. These are some of the most comforting and consoling words of the gospel. And Jesus means it.

Having met Jesus, people found new meaning in life and new ways of living. He restored their human dignity, helped them to overcome their obstacles, healed them, and forgave them. In short, Jesus freed them from their burdensome pasts, their troublesome lives.

All of us have our share of worries and anxieties. We even feel weighed down by our life at times. What about the sleepless nights that we have endured? What about the restlessness and the tensions that we may carry around? There might be times we carry our burdens without having time even to share them with our family members or close friends. We know life is beautiful, but at the same time life is difficult. The moment we are able to accept both these sides of life, we are able to live in relative peace and joy.

This is what Jesus offers us when he invites us to him. He doesn’t promise the removal of the yoke or of the burden. He rather tells us, “My yoke is easy and my burden light.” This is the effect of Jesus in our lives; he helps us to carry on with our lives joyfully. Amidst our sorrows, we will find joy and happiness.

Tensions are necessary for our growth. But we need to learn to hold them creatively. It seems that so very little is really resolved or solved, settled or answered. We live in the in-between, holding the tensions, discovering and even loving the paradoxes, realizing we ourselves are the contradictions. We ourselves really are the contradictions! The more we accept our condition the better and joyful our lives will be.

In other words, paradoxically, we need some tensions and problems to keep us going. A problem-free life is an illusion. Jesus helps us precisely to accept ourselves, and everything that may come our way—including our sufferings.

We too can have a Jesus-like effect on others who are suffering. If anyone starts to tell you of her worries, what do you do? Do you take time to listen to people in distress? Do you lighten the burdens of others? Do you give them comfort and consolation? Let us shoulder Christ’s yoke, and learn from him. Let us above all learn his gentleness and humility. Let us learn to live in exquisite, terrible humility before reality. How hard, but how sweet and beautiful!

“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”