FRIENDS and SERVANTS of the WORD
11 December 2024
Second Wednesday of Advent
WORD of the DAY
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.” (Matthew 11: 28-30)
How shall I live this Word?
The people thought that God required people to observe the law rigidly in order to be pleasing to Him. But the law of love, which Jesus has revealed to us, says otherwise. What matters to save us is not what we do for God, but what God in His great love does for us!
How many people, tired and oppressed by the sufferings of life, struggle to turn to God. How much responsibility on our part. We have difficulty in turning our attention to those who feel hurt, despised, humiliated. We look away, for fear of being called upon, of getting our hands dirty. Have we not felt ourselves before God, poor and deserving of nothing? We sometimes feel imprisoned by a yoke that prevents us from going to Him (the law, sin, hatred, selfishness, presumption…).
The yoke that Jesus invites us to take is that of love, which surely does not exempt us from suffering, but fills our life with peace, with the joy that comes to us from humility as a fundamental quality of love, that which considers the other superior to oneself and knows how to put oneself in the right place; and from the meekness as the quality of those who accept to lose for the good of the other. Jesus himself indicates meekness and humility as the only attitudes that we can learn from Him. Humility and meekness are the Wisdom of Love, a gift to be implored in prayer.
In you, O Lord, is the source of life; in Your light we see the light. Grant your grace to those who know You, your righteousness to the righteous of heart. (Ps 35).
The voice of Pope Benedict XVI Angelus 3 July 2011
Jesus promises to give everyone “refreshment”, but He puts a condition: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, who am meek and humble of heart”. The “yoke” of Christ is the law of love; it is His commandment, which He left to His disciples (Jn 13:34; 15:12). The true remedy for the wounds of humanity is a rule of life based on fraternal love, which has its source in the love of God. For this we must abandon the path of arrogance, violence used to obtain positions of ever greater power, to ensure success at all costs. Also, towards the environment, we must renounce the aggressive style that has dominated in recent centuries and adopt a reasonable “meekness”. But above all in human, interpersonal, and social relations the rule of respect and non-violence, that is the force of truth against every abuse, is what can ensure a future worthy of humankind.”
E-mail: srmterzo@gmail.com Website: www.sanbiagio.org info@sanbiagio.org Blog: livingscripture.wordpress.com -Comment: Sr. Gisella Serra, FMA
