In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us two very important and basic lessons in our spiritual life… that we should trust God to take care of us not only during good times, but more so when we are down, tired and weary of life’s up’s and downs and all we need in return is to believe in God with a childlike faith. Please read the passage from Matt. 11:25-30.
“At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. 26 Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
28 Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
The first lesson to learn about our faith is that many things are hidden from the wise and learned; yet it is revealed to the childlike. This reminds me of the passage in Matt. 18: 1-5 which reads, “At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? 2 He called a child over, placed it in their midst, 3 and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.”
Through the 2,000 years of the Catholic Church, we have come to know that the greatest saints that we’ve come across in our readings are the weakest and the humble. St. Paul and St. Peter for instance are two of our greatest saints and we know too well how St. Peter denied our Lord Jesus Christ in his darkest hour — a denial that our Lord prophesied. St. Paul too showed his weakness when he was handed down to be sentenced, when he invoked that being a Roman Citizen, he was entitled to defend himself in front of the Emperor — a decision he would regret later.
Today the Catholic Church has legions of Theologians or Exegetes who teach or preach the magisterium of the Catholic Church. Yet in this age of modernism or relativity, we have heard many Catholic doctrines being questioned even by priests or bishops who want to change our teachings. No doubt, these people have lost their childlike faith and have become modern day Pharisees. But for the humble ones, like the great Pope John Paul II, he knows that as God’s Vicar here on earth, he is the least in the kingdom of heaven because he already knew that after a lifetime of reading scripture that the first will be the last and the last will be the first.
In my day, I have heard a lot of priests who teaches us the tenets or doctrines of the Catholic Church, but when some of them stray away from traditional church teaching, they unknowingly unmask themselves because they are now preaching the “Gospel-according-to-me.” I’m sure that the majority of the faithful would hear the words, but there will be no reaction from them because a great majority of us Catholics do not read the Bible, much less understand its meanings or even what the priest is trying to say.
This is why we urge you to learn about our Catholic Faith so we can defend it when people of different faiths question us because of their ignorance of our teachings. But how can we even defend ourselves when we are as ignorant as they are? As St. Jerome once said, “Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ!” Therefore you cannot proclaim the Gospel if you do not read the Bible. Chances are, you already have a Bible in your house, but it is only gathering dust instead of gathering wisdom for you.
Finally we’ve come to the last paragraph when Jesus said, “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.” This is an open invitation by the Lord to visit Him whenever we can, especially when we are tired and weary and burdened.
This passage shows the intensity of God’s love for the human race for He didn’t qualify who can come to take His yoke. What we must do is act like Christ and be meek and humble like Him so we can enter into His glory. This is why I urge you to go to the Blessed Sacrament for Eucharistic Adoration.
This is one place of great solitude where you can converse one-on-one with the very same Jesus Christ who suffered, died and rose from the dead. Give Him your time, not only when you have problems, but share with Him your joys as well and believe me… nothing else would matter anymore except Him!