Come to Me and I will give you rest

Come to me and I will give you rest

Once a rich industrialist was horrified to find a fisherman lying lazily beside his boat smoking a pipe. “why aren’t fishing?” asked the industrialist. “Because I have caught enough fish for the day” said the fisherman. “why don’t you catch more than you need?’ asked the industrialist. What would I do with tham? You can make more money and buy a beautiful boat with motor and then you could go into deeper waters and catch more fish and then you would be a rich man like me. The fisherman looked at the rich man and asked, “And then what would I do?’ “Then like me you could sit down and enjoy life”. The contented fisherman looked at the rich anxious industrialist and said, “what do you think that I am doing right now?”

The happiest people are those who know what they need. They spend their time, energy and resources to fulfill them. They don’t complain saying, “I don’t time. I am always busy” instead they will be celebrating of what they have and when they don’t have time, they willl go to God who is the creator of time, who is the source of time and thus they will be given what they need. They rely on God for their ups and downs. And in today’s gospel, Jesus the creator of time invites us to go to him as we are. He says that all things have been handed over to him by God and He has the power and authority to reavel to anyone whom He Chooses. Let us go to Him when we are busy, when we are restless and we are anxious and He will look after us.
Once a priest noticed an elderly woman who came to church everyday and was going to the blessed virgin Mary’s statue and praying devoutly. The priest was so happy to see her marian devotion since many were not even thinking of praying the rosary or doing any novena to Blessed virgin Mary. Then He saw the woman touching the statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself and then a strange thing happened, she also touched the snake that was crushed under the foot of the blessed Virgin Mary and blessed herself. So the priest asked her why she was herself touching the statue as well the snake, the woman looked at the priest and said, “Father, if I go to heaven, I need the blessing and comfort of the mother and if I go to everlasting punishment, I then need the help of the devil”.

When we instead of having reverential fear develop religious fear and guilt, we hold on to insecurity and anxiety. We will not find meaning in everything we do religiously and thus we begin to practice faith with fear and begin to practice faith without hope. And Christ our Lord today invites us with who we are. He invites us with our weariness, tiredness and heavy burdens because He will give us rest and hope and He will give us courage and new spirit. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Let us learn from Him who became one among us and lived with us.
Today many people do not have much challenge to love and forgive others especially their neighbors but when it comes with their family, they struggle a lot. They often say, “ I give and give, there is no respect, no love from my own children. I don’t know how to cope with my own family, my husband and my wife. They go to counselling but they are not getting any help and they try all yoga, meditation and medication nothing work for them. What is the way? There is a way… Yes, Christ is the solution and He invites us to take rest in His love and He invites us to be with Him. When we go to Him, we not only find rest but also find solution for everything. He is the source of all so let us go to Him and learn from Him. Amen.