Dear friends,

Resting in God

Today’s Gospel is one of the most beautiful, most precious passages of the entire Bible. Jesus allows us a deep look into his innermost heart.   He opens he is heart and shows what moves him.

It could be divided  in  3 parts:

1. A prayer -- "I bless you, Father" –

2. a declaration of Jesus about himself -- "Everything has been given to me by my Father"

3. and an invitation -- "Come to me all who labor."

1. The prayer

We heard about something that the Gospels seldom report: Jesus begins to pray loudly in front of everyone. His words full of joy and gratitude. "I thank you, Father!" These words have a unique ring to them, they seem to be an burst of joy, happiness, wander and gratitude. A blessed time when the various pieces of the jigsaw  form a specific pattern of unique beauty. Life makes sense

2. The declaration of Jesus about Himself.

Jesus characterizes himself as gentle and humble of heart. I am reminded of the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians when he describes “love”: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Since God is love we can safely substitute the word “love” JESUS with the word Jesus, and we will read” “JESUS is patient, JESUS is kind.  JESUS is not proud. JESUS is not rude, JESUS is not self-seeking, JESUS is not easily angered, He keeps no record of wrongs. JESUS does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. JESUS always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

3. The invitation

Jesus invitation is addressed to the “little ones” with reference not to age, but humility. We are these “little ones” St. Paul reminds us: "Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God" (1 Cor.1:26-29).

Why the yoke?

Jesus uses the image of a yoke, a harness placed on beasts of burden like oxen when they shared a load like pulling a plow or powering a mill. He insists that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. To take the yoke means to get married, from here the word conjugal: cum ipso jugo under the same yoke.

Farmers know that oxen of the same strength can’t plow together because they will pull into different direction. One strong ox will work in harmony with a weak one. Jesus is the strong ox and we the weak one. At the end of the work He credits us with the work that He has done, we have only helped! Such is His kindness!

The promised rest:

The final product of Jesus' invitation is "rest" or what might be called peace of soul. I am reminded of the words by Augustine: “You made ouserselves for you and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in You”

This is called in  Hebrew: ”Shabbat” i.e rest. This is why Sundays are a day of rest. We have transformed our Sundays in a break between one week and another. A necessary break to regain the strength to go back to our work refreshed, more productive.  And even when we do go on vacation we don’t rest. Instead, we keep in touch via cell phone, email and fax. Today God is inviting us to take time out from our work to rest with Him. I am strongly reminded of the Ps 23 King David himself was a shepherd. He viewed his early days in which he spent in solitude and meditation as the best ones of his life. He was unaccompanied but never alone; he was his sheep's shepherd, but God was his shepherd, the One who cared for his every need with compassion and love. These words take our lives out of the isolation that we feel when we have no one to turn to. We have to learn to see God as our Lover and our Friend.

We have to learn how to rest in God