Praised be Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph!
In our celebration of the Solemnity
of Sts. Peter and Paul, we saw that when the Lord Jesus established his Church,
he gave St. Peter the keys to his kingdom. When we talk about kingdoms, we
often have images of kings and queens, royalty and nobility, palaces and vast
territories. There is always something grand in our idea of kingdoms. Thus, we
think that those invited into the kingdom should be the best, the brightest,
and the strongest. Thus, the words of the Lord might come as a surprise for he
invites the humble into his kingdom, he reveals the secrets of the same kingdom
to the little ones: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will
give you rest.
The Catechism teaches us: “The
Kingdom belongs to the poor and the lowly, which means those who have accepted
it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to ‘preach good news to the poor’; he
declares them blessed, for ‘theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.’ To them, the
‘little ones’, the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the
wise and the learned.” (CCC, 544.)
The Kingdom belongs to the poor
and the lowly because he, the King himself, is humble, meek, and gentle of
heart. He is rich and powerful for “all things have been handed over to (him)
by the Father.” And yet, he is “meek and humble of heart.” He is in possession
of the most profound secrets for “no one knows the Father except the Son,” and
yet, he hides this secret from the wise and the learned and reveals them to
little ones. “Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross;
he experiences hunger, thirst, and privation. Jesus identifies himself with the
poor of every kind and makes active love towards them the condition for
entering his Kingdom.” (CCC, 544.)
Here we see how the mind of God
is so much different from the mind of the world. We see here how the way of the
Spirit is so much different from the way of the flesh. Power, wealth,
influence, pleasure – all these deemed as important by the flesh are
unimportant to the Holy Spirit. In fact, these are even dangerous for “if you
live according to the flesh, you will die.” Being the little ones to whom the
Lord Jesus revealed the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven, we should put to
death the deeds of the body and take Christ’s yoke upon ourselves. Christ’s
yoke is his humble submission to the Father’s will. He humbled himself,
obediently accepting even death on a Cross. And this is the irony: the more we
insist on doing our will, the more we live according to the flesh, the more
enslaved we become, all the more we become burdened. But when we die to our
will and take up the yoke of Christ, the more we find rest for ourselves, all
the more do we become truly alive.
Therefore, let us live by the
Spirit. Let us take his yoke upon ourselves and learn from him who is meek and
humble of heart. Striving to fulfill his will, we have no fear of being
burdened. For the Cross which we embrace is his Cross. The will we submit to is
His will. His yoke is easy and his burden is light!
Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
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