Lectio
“What is more pleasant than that yoke, what lighter than that burden? To be made better, to abstain from wickedness, to choose the good, and refuse the evil, to love all men, to hate none, to gain eternal things, not to be taken with things present.”
— Hilary of Poitiers, in Aquinas, Catena Aurea on Matthew
Meditatio
What God desires for us is Godself. He desires intimate and unbroken relationship. He wishes to share His divinity with us, His creatures, His beloved children. He wants us to know what it is to be loved, to love, and to be Love.
Everything God does, everything God has ever done, is from this place of love, pointing us toward love, and inviting us into the divine dance of love — because God is love. God is the source of love, the destination of love, and the dance of love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all of whom are love, in love, the expression and reception of love, and He wants us to join Him in this eternity of love.
And so when we are burdened by that which is not love — by wickedness, evil, hatred, and all of the subtle deceptions that lead us away from love — God invites us to share in His love, to bear His yoke with Him, that He may share in our struggles and bear our burdens with us so that we do not have to bear them alone.
The yoke God wishes to share with us, in Christ, is the yoke of love — the yoke of His very self — which makes sweet that which is bitter, pleasant that which is troublesome, and light that which is burdensome. The yoke of love meets our sin with salvation, transfigures our suffering into sanctification, and turns our crucifixion into resurrection.
God’s yoke makes us better, gives us the strength to abstain from wickedness, to choose good, to refuse evil, to love everyone and to hate no one, even our enemies or those who hate and persecute us, and to partake in eternity when, of ourselves, we are only given to the finite and temporal. The yoke of love is the yoke of incarnation and ascension through which we become the godly persons God intended us to be that we may join Him in all of His glory now and forever. It is the gift of Godself shared with us in love that we may share ourselves with Him in love.
Oratio
Never Let Go
I come to You burdened
tired and broken
I cannot walk
on my own
I cling to the hem
of Your humble garment
You tell me to never
let go
You offer me rest
if I will accept it
give me Your peace
please make me whole
I hear Your Word
Your gentle whisper
My burden is light
come under My yoke
I give you Myself
you are My beloved
I give you My life
follow Me home
Contemplatio
You have heard the whisper before you could name it — come under My yoke. It is not a command demanding your strength but an invitation trusting your consent. Stay in the quiet with this, saying yes to whatever He wants to stir in you.
Related Scripture
“Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
— Galatians 6:2 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like The Mother of Spiritual Consent: Mary’s Yes and the Room It Makes for God, which traces the same movement of consent — a small yes that makes room for a grace, and a burden, too great to carry alone.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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