CARRYING THE LIGHT YOKE OF JESUS CHRIST

THURSDAY, FIFTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Isa 26:7-9,12,16-19; Ps102:13-21; Mt 11:28-30

Come to me, all you who labour and overburdened

The Lord is merciful and loving; this is what a faithful soul discovers in meditating on the word of God and keeping it close in times of trials. In his loving kindness, God purifies our souls through various difficult trials. In bodily pain, we move to God as if through the dark, for temporal afflictions we suffer make it hard to see the goodness of God. This is because we have trained ourselves to consider what is pleasant to the body as good and painful as evil. A soul that wishes to travel on the path of spiritual perfection must unlearn this lesson. We must admit that it is a difficult lesson and experience. But there is no other way to go if we must travel the spiritual path to our heavenly inheritance. We gradually learn that the body loses whenever the spiritual soul gains and vice versa. This dark path we must all travel to arrive at the fullness of our heavenly blessings features in the passage from prophet Isaiah. “The path of the upright man is straight, you smooth the way of the upright. Following the path of your judgments, we hoped in you, O Lord, your name, your memory are all my soul desires. At night my soul longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you.”

The path of the upright is straight because the word of God, on which he lives, outlines it. The path of the faithful is smooth because he lives by the light of the word of God, which also lights up his conscience. It is through his divine word that God judges his thoughts, words, and actions. The divine judgment prescribes external and painful discipline by which we are nudged onward in our spiritual journey. Through the trials, our souls learn to hope and desire God alone. The prophet means this when he says his soul longs for God, and his spirit seeks God at night. The night here is not physical, but as we have explained above, defined by bodily pains and suffering. This becomes clearer when he says: “Distressed, we search for you, O Lord; the misery of oppression was your punishment for us. As a woman with child near her time writhes and cries out in her pangs, so are we, O Lord, in your presence.” Only grace can guide us on this path to our heavenly blessings. As our Lord revealed, it is a narrow and difficult path that leads to heaven. Without grace, no soul can transverse the spiritual path. Human nature cannot make it by anything natural to us, just as a camel cannot go through the eye of a needle.

The Lord taught this necessity of grace for a successful passing to the heavenly realm. Thus, he invites us to come to him when we are heavily ladened. “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” God comes to our aid with his divine nature to lift us from our misery and trials. There are two things involved in entering the grace mode. The first is that we have to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is an invitation to believe in the Eternal Word made man for our salvation. This faith is necessary for the reception of a new principle of living and operation. We cannot have the heavenly life without believing in Jesus Christ and being baptised into him. When we believe in Christ and receive a spiritual life, we know rest and peace in Jesus Christ. The second is to shoulder the yoke of Jesus Christ. We are to live no longer for ourselves but for Jesus Christ who died for us. We are to walk the smooth path of the will of the Father, which is the path of the spirit that is impossible for a man of flesh. The Holy Spirit he gives us makes it easy for us to follow him on the path to the fullness of heavenly life. This path is never familiar to human nature; no matter how long we have travelled, every inch of it is by grace.   

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to believe firmly in your word and walk the path your holy will outlines for us daily, that illumined by the light of your word and guided by the Holy Spirit we may make steadfast progress on the path to our heavenly inheritance.