Sunday Gospel Comment
Alberic Jacovone OSB
YEAR A FOURTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR - 3.7.05 Zc 9,9-10; Rom 8,9.11-13; Mt 11,25-30 Christ’s yoke: sweet & easy Take
my yoke. Today’s
Gospel, closes chapter 11 of Matthew, with the well known ‘call of the
Saviour’: Come to me all you who are heavy laden... shoulder my yoke... Over
the centuries, these words have changed the life of millions. St Augustine said
his conversion came while listening to these words. So have said thousands of
believers. Christians of all generations & denominations have
responded with devotion & courage to Jesus’ call. Many saints, poets,
musicians & artists, have expressed in creative ways their loving response.
Here are some hymns that reflect prayerfully on the ‘sweet yoke of Christ’:
(Come to me all you who labour - All you who seek a comfort sure (of St Bernard)
- Are you weary, heavy laden?’ - What a friend we have in Jesus (of the
Puritans). Across the centuries, popular piety from all corners & cultures
has added insights to what Jesus would have meant by the words ‘my yoke’...
Devoted people soon realized that Jesus meant his own horrendous cross, which he
willingly dragged to Calvary to save us. And from this, they gained new
insights, which in turn gave meaning to many customs & devotions. For a
start, Jesus’ words: ‘Take my yoke’ has allowed the Gospel of St Matthew
to be represented with the symbol of the ‘Ox’, since the humble ox with the
yoke attached to its neck, depicts graphically the patient work of plowing the
ground, and at the same time it resonates Matthew’s own Christian strength,
endurance & service. Over the years, the link between the ‘sweet yoke of Christ’ and
Christ’s cross, has given rise to many popular forms of Christian piety,
customs and life-style. Christ’s
yoke: the Cross.
The words of today’s Gospel: ‘Come to me & shoulder my yoke’, have
inspired devoted people in every age. St Benedict, (born in 480AD), wrote a Rule
for Monasteries and in it he urged his monks to accept the ‘yoke of the
Rule’ from Christ himself. In 1162, Thomas Becket, when he was elected
archbishop of Canterbury, saw the ‘yoke of Christ’ liturgically represented
in the stole, (that long strip of cloth worn around the neck by the priest):
“he wore the stole, the emblem of the sweet yoke of Christ every day &
night around his neck”. Likewise in years past, the liturgical books required
that priests, when vesting for Mass, were to offer this special prayer, when
they put on the chasuble: ‘Lord you said my yoke is easy..., enable me
to bear it in such a way that I may win your grace’. The scapular, (a long
rectangular cloth garment which monks & other devoted people wore over their
shoulders, with an opening for the head & hanging down in front & back),
has also been mystically associated to the ‘sweet yoke of Christ’. It
developed first among monks as an apron with a hole for the head, to be worn
during work (propter opera, says the Rule of St Benedict in chapter 15) but
slowly it came to represents Christ’s cross and yoke, reminding the wearer
that he was called to shoulder the yoke & carry his cross as Jesus did. In
subsequent centuries, popular piety adopted the custom of wearing small
scapulars, to share in the ideals of religious life, & people in
Confraternities wore them, as a pledge of protection from the Blessed Virgin
Mary. Reflection:
Today, we tend to dismiss as pious exaggerations the meaning that our ancestors
gave to Jesus’ words. But then they warn our secular mindset that Jesus’
words: ‘shoulder the yoke of my cross’, are not meant simply to lighten the
burdens of daily life, since nothing happens in Christian life without
conversion & dedication, faith & grace. In this year of Eucharist: are
you ‘moved’ at all by Jesus’ call: come to me? And How? ______________________________________ |
