Lay Down Your Burdens

Our burdens can be so heavy at times.  We are faced with so many challenges in our day to day lives.  The older I get, the heavier the burdens seem to be in my life and those around me.  Aging parents, cancer, death, divorce, the list goes on and on.  We struggle as Godly men and women to make sense of these burdens.  Why are we given these crosses to carry?  I wish I knew the answer to this question.  I've asked it many times myself.  It's hard to figure out the will of our God when it doesn't match up with the plans we had and have for our lives.  We have to remember that it is His will, and we must believe and trust that He will give us the strength to handle our crosses, survive the pain, and come alive again with happiness.  We are a resurrected people who are given the gift of Eternal Life.  His love and grace is ever-present in life and in death.

My students will often ask, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I wish I had a simple answer for them.  There are some things we cannot understand in the moment they are happening.  The pain is too much to bear.  God loves us, and he holds us close in these moments.  We have to be open to being held.  We have to be faithful in our prayers.  We have to be faithful in the good times and the bad.

"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" - Matthew 11: 28-30

If you were to reach out to your family and close friends and ask them how you can pray for them what would you hear?   Let me share with you what I heard today, "Please pray for my family my mother passed last night, my brother is facing a cancer diagnosis, please pray that I can carry my child to full term,  I'm having surgery soon please pray, my friend lost her twin to a tragic car accident, my significant other is still without a job after a year of searching, this is our first Christmas without my brother please pray for us, and for his children."   These are just a few of the prayer requests I received.

If you are struggling, I'm going to challenge you to pray.  Get on your knees, lay down before God and call out for his help.  If you are Catholic, go back to church and receive the Eucharist.  Christ will strengthen you.  Ask people to pray for you, pray for others, pray without ceasing.  God calls us to pray in Thanksgiving, and he desperately wants us to call out to him in times of despair.  Lay down your burdens; He will carry you.  His yoke is easy, and His burden is light.