14th Sunday Year A

14th Sunday Year A – My Yoke is Easy and My Burden Light

Who here has been in that place when you have felt that the burden you have been given is just too much to bear? The burden can be anything from a boss or colleagues at work who are demanding more and more and you feel are giving less and less. It can be a beloved family member who is driving you to distraction because they refuse to take the advice you give and you know you are right.

It can be how you are having to struggle and juggle the family finances to make ends meet in an ever-increasing and demanding market-place

It can be a million and one things that of themselves are maybe not that significant but when pulled together are a burden that would cripple the strongest camel or donkey.

And in the midst of this burden or list of burdens is you. How do you find the time to look after you and in particular that bit of you that is so in need of a clear unburdened relationship with your Father in heaven.? When and where do you find the time, the energy, the actual and definite commitment to talk to God and to tell him the length, the breadth, the height and the depth of your love, your unconditional love that would still benefit hugely from His dipping into your life and possibly easing some of your burden?

We have all been there and quite possibly there are many of us who are still in or around these same situations, these same burdens. But I wonder how many of us have had the clarity of vision to take all of our burdens to the Lord and ask him for his help. I wonder how many of us are strong enough in faith, hope and love to realise that the one person who can offer us a yoke to help with the carrying of our burdens is God.

For many years I actually thought that the word ‘yoke’ was just another way of saying ‘burden’: the two words were really inter-changeable. I never realised that one was the way to ease the carrying of the other. The ‘yoke’ is that wooden frame that was made to go across the person’s or beast’s shoulders and from which any burden would then be hung or linked and would be so much easier to carry or to pull. Think of the milk-maid carrying the buckets on the end of her yoke or the bullocks pulling a wagon or plough with the aid of a yoke.

“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. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.”

Our yoke is Jesus Christ, our Saviour. He commanded and commended us all to come to him with every care, concern, worry, trouble and burden, no matter the size, shape, weight or colour and he would take them unto himself and ease our load. He would make the carrying of these burdens so much easier through His intervention and His loving support.

Our burdens would become lighter because if we offered them to and through Jesus Christ, we would gain an insight as to what is truly important and how and where we should expend our energies.

We need to take all of our troubles to the Lord and to offer them to Him in love and in humility asking for Him to help us shoulder what we must and to use His yoke, his advice and his direction to make our carrying that much easier and more effective.

Not everything in this life is a burden. Not everything in this life needs to be a drag and a source of distress and anxiety. Not everything requires that we wear sackcloth and ashes and carry a miserable look on our faces.

My yoke is easy and my burden light. God loves me and I am saved. He sent His only Son to live and die for me and to rise from the dead to save me from my sins.

When we walked together across the sands, there was only one set of footprints because he picked me up and carried me and all of my troubles until such time as I was fit, strong and healthy enough to take them on by myself again.

This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad on it. Hallelujah!

Bidding Prayers

1.      That we take all of our cares and troubles to the Lord and ask that he help us in the carrying and solving of them. Lord in your mercy

2.      That all those who are struggling with the problems of their lives are granted the wisdom and courage to go to the Lord for help and support. Lord in your mercy

3.      That those struggling to make ends meet in these difficult financial times are helped out by those of us in better situations. Lord in your mercy

4.      That there is an increase in peace and harmony and a decrease in war and terror across our troubled world. Lord in your mercy

5.       That all those who work at sea or in related industries are protected in their daily work and know how much they are appreciated. Lord in your mercy

6.      That those in our parish who are sick in mind, body or spirit and feel overburdened by life’s demands are comforted and supported through our prayers and actions. Lord in your mercy.

7.      That those who have died recently or whose anniversaries occur at this time may find eternal rest with your Father in heaven. Lord in your mercy

8.      That Mary our Mother and the Mother of our Saviour join her prayers with ours as we now say together, Hail Mary, full of grace . . . .