Today,
Jesus' words resound intimate and close. We are conscious that
contemporary men and women suffer a considerable psychological
pressure. This world keeps on turning round and round, we cannot
stand up the pace anymore and have neither time nor inner peace to
assimilate these changes. Quite often we move away from the evangelic
simplicity by loading ourselves up with rules, commitments, planning
and objectives. We feel overwhelmed and tired of continuously
struggling without our effort being worth its while. Recent
investigations affirm that nervous breakdowns are on their way up all
the time. What are we lacking to feel actually well?
Today,
at the light of the Gospel, we may review our conception of God. How
do I live and feel God in my heart? What feelings uncover his
presence in my life? Jesus offers us his understanding when we feel
weary and want to rest: «Come to me, all you who work hard and
who carry heavy burdens and I will refresh you» (Mt
11:28). Maybe we have fought for perfection while, deep inside, the
only thing we wanted was to feel loved. In Jesus' words we find a
response to our crisis of meaning. Our ego plays some dirty tricks on
us by preventing us from being as good as we would like to. At times
we may not see the light. St. Juliana of Norwich, English mystic of
the fourteenth century, had a revelation, heard Jesus’ message,
and wrote: «All will go well, everything will go well».
Jesus'
proposal —«Take my yoke upon you and learn from me...»
(Mt 11:29)— implies following his benevolent style of
life (to wish good to everybody) and his heart’s humility
(virtue referring to keep our feet on the ground for only the divine
grace can make us ascend). To be a disciple demands our accepting
Jesus' yoke, while remembering his yoke is «good» and his
burden is «light». I do not know, however, whether we are
convinced this is really so. To live as a Christian in our present
context is not such an easy thing, for we have to opt for values that
go upstream. Not to get carried away by money, prestige or power
demands a great effort. If we want to achieve it by ourselves, it may
become an impossible task. But with Jesus everything is possible and
good.
