Daily Gospel Reflection

Make Your Burden Light

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we're looking for a word, a phrase, or an idea from the gospel so we can anchor our day in Jesus' genius, his great teachings. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew 11:28-30. "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

It's a short reading, but it's beautiful, isn't it? Again, we're seeing Jesus' tremendous care for us, seeing His tremendous care for humanity. What jumps out at me today is that Joseph was a carpenter and Jesus grew up around this carpentry. And in those days, a yoke was used to guide the cattle, maybe to plow land, or maybe to pull a cart, something like that. But it was a wooden piece that was put around the neck of the cattle. And I imagined that the carpentry could make an enormous difference to how that wood around the neck of the cattle, what that felt like, right?

And Jesus says, "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." I think that how that-- the carpentry of that wood, you know, that could make the burden feel light or it could make it feel heavy. It could make it feel easy or it could make it feel very, very difficult. But Jesus' invitation today is come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I don't know a person. I literally don't know a person who doesn't need the rest that Jesus is offering us today.

So today, let's take a few minutes. Let's find a quiet place. Let's sit with God and allow Him to give us this rest that we so yearn for in our hearts, in our minds, in our bodies, in our souls. Have a great day and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.