Bearing the Burden

Gospel:  Matthew 11: 28-30

"For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."

Is this what we experience in religion? How often the opposite is the case!  We often find religion as a great burden where piles of guilt are heaped upon us, where we are made to endure physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, and where we reel from the incessant lust for power, influence, and wealth that churchmen pursue at the expense of the Gospel and the care of souls.  What are we to do when religion itself is the burden?

We find ourselves torn between two realities.  The first is the attraction we have for Jesus, his example and message that is truly liberating and salvific.  We long to imitate his example and go along the path of divinization he marks out for us.  But then we encounter those who claim to be his followers and successors who are not at all following this path.  They only seek their own power and influence.  We are repulsed by what we experience there.  

The path as always is to follow the way and example of the Lord Jesus and to ignore the false ways of the charlatans who claim is mantle but only seek their own ego.  This is the way of the cross, the way Jesus himself walked in his own journey on earth.  When we let go of our own ego and our desires for power, influence, and wealth, the burden becomes much lighter indeed.