Wednesday December 13, 2023

“Our burdens grow lighter as Jesus helps us pull the load.”

Good News Reflection for:

Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent
Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr
December 13, 2023

Today’s Prayer:

I thank You, Lord, because You take my burdens and show me the way that leads me to Your peace. Amen.

Subscribe to Today’s Saint Quote & Prayer:
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Today’s Readings:

Isaiah 40:25-31
Ps 103:1-4, 8, 10
Matthew 11:28-30
bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/121323.cfm
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
bible.usccb.org/podcasts/audio/daily-mass-reading-podcast-december-13-2023

Living in the Light to share the Light

To give birth to Christ and brighten the world around us with his light, we must remain in the light of Christ.

Basking in the light of Christ should be very restful. But it doesn’t always seem so, right? Not when it’s too bright! When Jesus reveals to us a sin that we’ve been committing, our first instinct is to slam our eyelids shut. Then we either run away and hide, or we wrestle and struggle and squirm in his arms.

It’s hard to get away from the light of truth. Everyone tries, but no one succeeds. Oh, for a while, we might mask the purity of the light of truth with colors of our own choosing, but when we really, sincerely want to become more like Christ, we let him transfigure our human nature into his divine glow. And when we truly trust him, we readily accept the changes.

The light of Christ is restful only when we let go of our desire to interpret the truth according to what’s most convenient for us and what’s easiest for us to believe. Sometimes we misunderstand the value of a truth — for example, a teaching of the Church that we don’t like because it’s inconvenient or because it doesn’t make sense to us (such as the ban against artificial contraception or why marriage is meant to be a Sacrament between one man and one woman) — and so we reject the teaching as if it’s a dark spot on the Church’s wall. But rejecting it prevents us from sharing the light of Christ with others.

We become distributors of darkness until we stop resisting what God is doing in the light. We need to relax and allow his light to consume us, trusting that we’re safe in this transformation process because of God’s goodness. Then, as described in today’s Gospel reading, we’re strengthened by yoking ourselves to Jesus. To be yoked to Jesus means teaming up with him to love as he loves, to plow what he plows, and to go where he goes.

Our burdens grow lighter as Jesus helps us pull the load. The world around us grows brighter as he takes us in a different direction than where we were headed under the weight of anger and resistance and the illusion that life must be easy to be good.

When we relax in the light of Christ, we begin to understand how he’s meek and humble of heart. To be meek means to be strong in the truth without forcing it upon anyone. Jesus knows how to create an environment in which others actually want to find out why we believe what we believe. If we don’t resist what he’s doing by trying to tug him in the wrong direction, his yoke is easy.

In this life of being united to Jesus, he helps us work harder. He exercises us while patiently waiting for us to build up our strength so that we can go farther in distributing his light.

It reminds me of the colorful array of Christmas lights on a house when they work together to form a constellation that redefines old shapes while breaking the darkness. Yoking ourselves to Jesus is like this, redefining old shapes and patterns in our lives according to the light of truth as we rest in the strength of Christ’s love and guidance.

And this is how we become more effective at birthing Jesus more fully into the world.

To think further about this issue, use our Faith Booster: “Live consciously with eyes open” @ https://wordbytes.org/faith-booster-minis/live-consciously-with-eyes-open/

2023 by Terry A. Modica

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