Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, bishop and doctor of the Church
The words from today’s gospel passage are among the most comforting but challenging in the Bible. In this section from Matthew, Jesus calls the weary to him to find rest. Jesus also tells us that his yoke is easy and his burden light. It sounds nice to us – peaceful and simple. But given what we know of the rest of Jesus’ life, we might ask ourselves, how exactly is Jesus’ burden light and his yoke easy? Is not this the same man who was virtually homeless, was condemned unjustly to death, flogged, crowned with thorns, made to carry a cross and ultimately crucified? How does this constitute an “easy yoke” and a “light burden.” Are crosses supposed to be easy?
The first half of today’s passage from Isaiah indicates a yes: “The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level” (Is 26:7). Peace is given to those who seek God, and what makes for an easy yoke and a light burden here is that God has “accomplished all we have done” (Is 26:12b). Ultimately, this is what makes it possible for the Christian life to be an easy yoke and a light burden. Jesus has already accomplished all that is necessary for our salvation. But this should not bring on a fit of laziness, for “resting” in Jesus requires “learning” from him, and taking his own yoke.
If carrying our cross (sharing in Jesus’ yoke and burden) is supposed to be easy and light, then why does it often feel so difficult and heavy? The challenge for us is not simply in taking up the crosses of life, but taking them up in imitation of Jesus. In fact, often, like Jesus, we have no choice in the challenges that confront us; we are simply faced with a lost job, family problems, illnesses and the like. These crosses are thrust on us as much as Jesus’ own cross was thrust on him. The challenge, then, is for us to embrace these challenges in imitation of him. It takes an element of willpower that might best be understood as a sort of “active resignation,” a choice to resign ourselves to things we cannot change.
This cannot be done without certain practices to form our life, most especially prayer. Prayer is something that we must turn to all day long; it becomes the foundation that makes it possible to embrace our crosses as Jesus embraced his. We ought to expect, however, some difficulty inasmuch as we are not Jesus. We’d like to pray constantly, we’d like to embrace our crosses, we’d like to imitate Jesus in all things. But, in reality, we often fall short. We are not Jesus. In such cases, we trust in God’s mercy and pray that we can yet hope to live ever more Christlike, by making small steps.
The saint we celebrate today, St. Bonaventure, is a great example of someone whose life was formed by prayer and who saw everyday crosses as leading us to God. Known as the Seraphic Doctor, Bonaventure was a 13th century scholar and leader of the Franciscan order. Bonaventure believed that it was possible to know and love God; one famous treatise was named “The Soul’s Journey to God” because he believed that we could ascend to union with God by starting from our sense experience of the world and our reasoning.
Today, try to identify one challenge in your life that has seemed burdensome and difficult. Pray about this and discern how you might embrace this cross more fully, in imitation of Christ, such that it may become an easy yoke and a light burden.
- Maria Morrow