Gospel: Mt 11:25-30
Jesus exclaimed: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to the simple! Thank you, Father, for so it has seemed good to you. The Father has put all things in my hands. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.
Fruit: To learn to rest in Christ, understanding that He does not ask us to leave the burdens of everyday life, but that He lends His shoulders to help us.
Guidelines for reflection:
Undoubtedly, these words of the Gospel invite us to reflect on several points. The simple people. The knowledge of the Son and the Father. Relief for the journey. As a common factor is humility, an essential virtue to be simple, to be able to “see” God and above all, to be able to abandon oneself to Christ, rest for the soul. To be meek and humble.
1. You have revealed them to the simple people
Simple and humble people are the happiest people, because they are the people who have no superfluous attachments or sterile worries. Simple people speak of God naturally, they have God on their lips and in their hearts. When families and young people carry out evangelization missions, they discover this reality. But this must be understood, because simplicity is a virtue for everyone, men and women of every social condition. In contrast, there are also poor people who, immersed in pride, do not know how to be simple and spend their days in envy and even in delinquency. And there are people with economic goods who know how to be simple. Jesus contrasts the “wise” with the “simple”, not because wisdom is something bad, but because of those who think they know everything and do not need anyone. For them, the “wise”, God does not exist, they do not need him, they say that God is the ‘opium of the people’... No, simple people know that they are creatures in the hands of their Creator, children in the hands of their Father. Only the simple know how to appreciate and live the mysteries of the Kingdom of Christ.
2. Knowledge of the Son and the Father
It is significant that Christ says: “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him”. So is there a way to know God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth? Of course there is! Christ himself shows it to us, but only if we know how to be simple in order to enter into the mystery can we have an experiential knowledge of God. He is a loving Father who sustains us in his Providence. Therefore, we must know the Son, Jesus, in order to know the Father as well. And Christ is known in the Gospels, in the Eucharist and in the deposit of faith entrusted to the Church: on this rock I will build my Church, he will say to Peter. Let us know Christ, then, and let us ask him to show us the Father, so that we may experience him as a loving Father.
3. My yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Our century is the century of stress, a disease that our grandparents did not know. Another very typical disease of this century is depression. Stress and depression are two stones in the shoe of millions of people in the world that do not let them walk through life in peace. “Come to me,” Jesus tells us. He calls us to rest in Him, because with Him the burden of work and life does not disappear, but it is more bearable. There is no formula to make problems, difficulties and sufferings disappear. They are part of the existence of each and every one of us. But it is one thing to immerse oneself in the problem, in the difficulty and in the suffering, and quite another to know how to face them. And if they are overcome by the hand of Christ, so much the better. Therefore, for those who are stressed and depressed, today Christ also invites you: Come to me!
Purpose: To go more frequently to prayer to converse with Christ, and if it is in the Eucharist, all the better. Learn from Him who is meek and humble.
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