By F. Luis Casasus, General Superior of idente missionaries
Commentary on the Sunday Gospel of 9-7-2017, Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Book of Zechariah 9:9-10; Letter to the Romans 8:9.11-13; Saint Matthew 11:25-30)
1. To be childlike. Within a week after birth, an infant already recognizes the face of her mother; this is useful since she depends on her for everything. And before long she’ll be a face-recognition expert. A research showed that 6-month-olds are far more gifted than adults at picking out individual faces among a group of people.
This remark strongly resembles the spiritual significance of being like children, which consists of nothing less than a pureness of heart that allows us to recognize the face of God in Jesus Christ. (Pope Benedict XVI, Nov. 2011). This is extremely practical, because enables us to live in a perpetual state of prayer: if we positively try to imitate Jesus, we will not be distracted ( = to be dragged away from) in our mind or in our will. In fact, it is the only way to fulfill the will of God on an ongoing basis. Be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph 5: 1-2). Justly Jesus say: I am the Way.
Children need most of all the example they see in a mother or father who function on a caring and rational level with each other and within the larger community. They need to see in parents the strength of personal convictions…a set of ethics and values they see their parents live by. If they see vacillation, hypocrisy, or compromise in the actions of their parents they will lack the strength to build their own convictions. As the old saying goes, verba docent exempla trahunt (The words teach, examples draw). In the same way, being childlike, looking at the face of Jesus with a pure heart, we have the opportunity to progress in our spiritual life, which is equivalent to be drawn to fulfill the will of our Heavenly Father.
What is a pure heart? In modern language we would say “unmixed motives”, a love that is genuine and that does not want anything out of it. It can also be called a sincere heart. What is the origin of the word sincere? It comes from two Latin words, sine cera, in English without wax. It comes from the world of secondhand antiques. A statue that was old developed cracks. So a shady dealer would fill up the cracks with white wax. You would not know; you would look at it and think they were the original streaks. The secondhand dealers used to put a notice: Our statues are without wax (in Latin, of course). Our statues are sine cera, are sincere, are good right through, the genuine article; no patching up, no covering the cracks, it is genuine. Now, when you have a pure heart is free from mixed motives. Of course, this is impossible for us and we need to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
Even seemingly spiritual things can make our heart impure. For example, studying the Word to know many things in the Bible may become the goal in our heart, rather than knowing God himself. Or we may pursue good conduct, or take good works as our goal -even in service to God- rather than God only. If we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we seek many things besides the Lord Himself, we have other goals besides the Lord, and we aren’t single or absolute when it comes to God’s will being accomplished. We may still aim at the Lord, but at the same time, we aim at other things. But even physically, it is hard for our eyes to focus on two objects at the same time. We end up seeing neither object clearly. In the same way, when we focus on things we are seeking or aiming at and not on Christ only, it is hard for us to see God in our fellowship with the Lord.
We manifest these states of a mixed heart as a fault in the purificative union, more precisely against the spirit of the Gospel.
Probably you have heard about Yo-Yo Ma, the brilliant and charismatic cellist. These are his words:
When people ask me how they should approach performance, I always tell them that the professional musician should aspire to the state of the beginner. In order to become a professional, you need to go through years of training. You get criticized by all your teachers, and you worry about all the critics. You are constantly being judged. But if you get onstage and all you think about is what the critics are going to say, if all you are doing is worrying, then you will play terribly. You will be tight, and it will be a bad concert. Instead, one needs to constantly remind oneself to play with the abandon of the child who is just learning the cello. Because why is that kid playing? He is playing for pleasure. He is playing because making this sound, expressing this melody, makes him happy. That is still the only good reason to play.
This illustrates well the childlike qualities which characterize candidates for the kingdom: Children are refreshingly fresh, not faded or jaded by the years. They are open rather than cynical, delighted to be surprised. They are rarely if ever suspicious. And, most pertinent, little ones can only receive; can only respond spontaneously to love and affection. They have no claim to achievement, nothing they can proudly claim as their own. To enter the Kingdom is to accept the dominion of Jesus, not to lapse into second childhood or to reproduce the baby and the adolescent. It is to recapture –in an adult fashion and in the face of God- the openness and nakedness, the sheer receptivity and utter dependence, such is what Christ wants to see in his disciples. This is the way the Holy Spirit educates our ecstasy.
Saint Frances of Sales advised: Behave as little children do, who with one hand cling to their father and with the other gather strawberries or blackberries along the hedges.
To fully take advantage of virtues and intellectual acceptance of the Gospel, we have to experiment. In particular, mere intellectual testing of Poverty, Chastity and Obedience is not enough. This explains why many people with a high intellectual and emotional competence cannot understand the extent of the Evangelical Counsels. Truth has to be tested intellectually and practically. This is something children and scientists have in common: they perform experiments and follow the advice of a mentor.
Do you think that the average scientist gets out there, creates an experiment and it works a hundred percent of the time every time, the first time? You have some scientists doing experiment after experiment after experiment for ten years, twenty years, and thirty years before they find an answer.
For a child, curiosity is a major part of this experimentation process. Maybe playing with fire, poking his finger in other children’s eye, drawing a picture, petting a dog or a lion, riding a bike…They’re open, transparent, non-critical. They just absorb just like a sponge; they are willing to ask questions. This is part of the process of experimenting. Just in the asking questions, they’re very honest about the fact that they don’t know or that they’re in a process of experimentation.
You cannot learn to swim just by watching, and you cannot learn to follow Jesus without practicing to do what he did and taught. Jesus didn’t just communicate information or ideas, but declared: I am the way and invited his disciples into a new life that was fueled and inspired by his example, teachings and sacrifice.
Which are “these things” that are hidden or revealed? All the content of this revelation or hiding is summarized in the person of Jesus, the Son of God, and the one who reveals the Father. It is evident for the reader that the revelation of God is linked indissolubly to the person of Jesus, to his Word, to his actions. He is the one who allows the revelation of God and not the Law or our reasoning.
- Can a light burden ease our current crushing burden? This is the shocking statement of Jesus in today’s Gospel. It is like a spiritual homeopathy, trying to remedy the effects of our burden…with more burdens! Homeopathy adopts a Like treats like approach to stimulate healing. Homeopathic medicine takes elements found in nature which cause symptoms like wheezing, pain, or depression to fight those same symptoms.
*Diagnostic: We are over burdened by the pressures of work, family and community responsibilities and the demands of the offices we hold. Sometimes we are overwhelmed by anxiety over financial difficulties or health. Many times we are emotionally wounded because of difficult relationships with loved ones. We are also burdened by our sins.
*Treatment: will Jesus take away our crosses in life? Surely not! He Himself carried His own cross and instructed us to carry our crosses and follow after Him. So the solution is not removing the crosses and the burdens in our lives. The key is to consider how we carry them but especially to realize that He is asking us to carry His yoke together with Him. This is a form of union with Him where we share the eyes and heart of Jesus; His compassion for the poor and the suffering, especially for sinners, and His love for His Father.
Then, when there is love in whatever we do, no suffering is too much, because love makes the suffering meaningful and even joyful. Within this context, the claim of Jesus that His yoke is easy and His burden light makes more sense. Consequently, to carry the yoke of Jesus is to see everything through His perspective When Jesus says His yoke is “easy”, it means that it is fitting. Yokes were tailor-made to fit the oxen well. So when Jesus invites us to put on his yoke, He is asking us to surrender our lives to the Father just as He surrendered His life. This is because we have been created in his image and likeness. This is also the key to a true spiritual joy.
Without love, everything is burdensome. It is just like having to study subjects that we do not like; or lukewarm Catholics having to come to mass on Sundays. There is a famous story of a young girl who carried her crippled brother on her back. When someone remarked to her saying: That’s a heavy load you are carrying there. Her reply was sincere and swift: He ain’t heavy; he’s my brother! Truly, a burden is not heavy when it is taken up and carried with love.
- A true apostle is driven by Affliction, the sharing of God’s yoke, of God’s suffering. As we read in the Gospel text: The heart of Jesus was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd (Mt 9: 36). Otherwise, we can just be organizers, part-time good-doers or religious fanatics.
In the midst of our personal fatigues, we behave like the blind man who was walking down the street at night carrying a lantern. He was asked why he carried a lantern when he could not see. And he replied, Because I don’t want anyone to stumble over me. Our first concern is to avoid giving scandal, especially with our mediocrity.
Another sign of this mystical affliction is diligence: They immediately abandoned their nets and became His followers (Mk 1:17-18). This is why in our Ascetical Examination we declare the missing opportunities in our apostolic life. Perhaps we forget that our heavenly Father has lovingly prepared from all eternity each and every one of my encounters with a person. You never know what the Holy Spirit is going to do with your humble effort, with the minute you give to your neighbor…
Despite appearances, do you understand that the origin of human brokenness is the lack of a contact with God? As Pope Francis said in one of his Tweets, Being an apostle means bringing souls to Christ, and giving Christ to souls.
If I am sincere, I have to admit that I never use all the means within my reach in the apostolate. This explains the importance of apostolic prayer, as the most important instrument in evangelization.
Do I carry in my heart and in my prayers a handful of people who God placed near me?
*Am I visibly interested in the apostolic effort of my brothers?
A short story about NOT taking all appropriate care in mundane but important matters:
A young Canadian man had been appointed by his company to go to a remote place in Africa. The thrill was dampened by just one thing. The girl who had been his sweetheart through the years would not marry him if he accepted the appointment. To all his pleas and reasoning, her answer was a definite no. One month before the time he was to sail he decided to write her one more letter. After he wrote it, he added a postscript which read If this letter has made you miserable, just throw it in the waste basket and don’t answer it.
Something had happened, and with a joyous heart she wrote and told him in a dozen different ways she loved him enough to go to the end of the world with him. When she started to the post office to mail it, however, she found it was raining so hard she hesitated, she told her younger brother she would give him a quarter if he would run and mail it. Anxiously she watched and waited for a reply. None came. The months dragged by and then she learned that he had gone without her. Years later, when the family was moving to another house, she found and old coat that belonged to her brother. In a pocket was her letter.
On the contrary, remember how Paul lists a number of the things he endured for Christ:
Great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on, beaten, and yet not killed; sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything (2Cor 6 :4-10).
Let us meditate on his inspired approach of the apostolic endeavor:
So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could.
Paradoxically, the Affliction of the apostle brings him joy (Beatitude). The greatest joy in giving is when we give freely and for free and this is the case for evangelization and apostolate. When we are able to free ourselves from our own needs and focus on the true needs of others, we experience the joy of freedom and the joy of pure love and pure giving. It is a joy that no one can explain.
If we are consistent with the Affliction bestowed on us by the Holy Spirit, we conclude that He is at the helm and the ways of God are not ours. Peter was not able to predict how he would give glory to God; Paul too never realized that his dream of bringing the Gospel to the ends of the world could be fulfilled. He never expected that circumstances would happen in such a way that he was literally brought to Rome to proclaim the Gospel. The ways of God are unimaginable, because only He knows our heart. Through the Affliction received from the Holy Spirit, we literally find a new life, with unexpected capacities and strengths. As Saint Paul tells us today: Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Such a change of life and mindset requires, essentially, humility. If Jesus could empty Himself of His divinity and suffer for us unto death on the cross, it was because He is gentle and humble of heart. Therefore, if we are going through intense struggles in our personal life, especially in dealing with our sins, be assured that that God is compassionate and He is patient with us in our growth.
Only with humility, can we see the greatness, beauty and love of God in creation and in our lives. Pope Francis gives us a practical and down-to-earth view description of what humility is:
The humility of the childlike is that of somebody who
walks in the presence of the Lord,
does not speak badly about others,
looks only at serving
and feels that he or she is the smallest.
