The Weight of the World. The Weight of the Cross

DS: I love this picture. I believe it is the superior of the Missionaries of Charity here in the States. She seems to have the world on her shoulders...

...and so, her hands are clasped tightly as she prays...

No doubt, she is imploring the assistance of her Spouse? The One who teaches us, "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 your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

I could never understand these words from Scripture. What is the Lord trying to tell us? Take from Him his yoke?? His yoke is easy?? But he was brutally crucified! His "yoke" was a heavy wooden cross! What exactly is He trying to tell us? I finally came to understand, when one night I had a dream ...

My mother had just passed away. I found myself sinking in a mire of exhaustion and anguish. I felt no comfort. I felt no hope. I felt all alone. As I did for many a night after her passing, I fell asleep weeping in my bed. One night, I fell into a deep sleep. I began to dream. I dreamt I was standing on a dusty road, and coming toward me was Jesus Christ, carrying His cross. He beckoned me to come to Him and I did. He placed one beam on my shoulders and whispered to me, "If you suffer without love, you will feel the full weight of the cross. SUFFER WITH LOVE, and your burden will become light." The cross was a little heavy at first, but then it became light. I wanted nothing more than to stay here, close to Jesus, carrying the cross.

When life brings us down, and we feel the full weight of the world---our problems, our anxieties, our fears, our concerns for family and loved ones ...we need remember to not suffer in bitterness, not in self-pity, not in despair, but suffer like the One who suffered for us all: with great love and with a purpose...

VEE: Ah to suffer with love and He who is Love... This reminds me of the homily at my parish this past Sunday where the deacon said something along the lines of "if we feel we are being crushed by our burdens then we are trying to carry too much on our own." A yoke is for two animals and likewise Christ's yoke, His cross is for two people you and Him. Even He didnt carry it alone, remember Simon of Cyrene? Jesus doesn't expect us to go it alone! He is always there for it takes two to carry a cross.

I've never been in the military but have heard that the training exercises are intentionally made to be done as a team and one cannot complete them alone. I think the Way of the Cross, the way that we each must take, is not meant to be completed alone either and when we forget that, we feel the weight. I once heard somewhere the following: " the cross without Christ is a curse, the cross with Christ is a blessing."