13th century mystic St. Hildegard of Bingen wrote: ‘God wants all creation flourish
through human beings. He comes to awaken all to life. God is coming as love, wisdom
and power’. Prophet Zechariah says that your king is coming, riding on a donkey; he
proclaims peace. In the gospel, we see the image of this king/messiah who speaks of
comfort, peace, rest for all who carry burdens and are afraid. The pandemic is creating
a lot of panic and uncertainties in our world, tension between peoples and nations. In
the midst of our anxieties we hear Jesus saying: ‘come to me, learn from me
gentleness and humility with which you can confront your fears. My love and wisdom
will awaken new power in you and that give you peace and rest’. Jesus is not
promising to take away crosses. Is peace possible in sufferings? What is comfort feels
like when afraid? Jesus sought comfort in the garden of Gethsemane before
crucifixion, felt abandoned by God; he found consolation in a loving entrustment to the
Father’s will and with that strength to carry the cross, to comfort those who wept for
him and to forgive who crucified him.
Jesus speaks about his yoke as wisdom of God. Book of Sirach 51 says, ‘draw near to
me; make your dwelling in the house of my instruction. Yoke of Christ is his teaching/
gospel, divine wisdom. In the book of Lamentations 3:27, yoke is correction from God/
God’s authority. Peace comes from conforming our thinking and attitudes to correcting,
guiding instructions of divine wisdom. Jesus is the one who knows the Father, his life
reveals who God is and what should be our relationship with God. Jesus invites us to a
loving entrustment to him and his gospel to find inner rest. Strength of our relationships
is our comfort. The stronger the bond between husband and wife, parents and children
and between friends, the deeper the comfort and peace you feel. Jesus wants us to
have a childlike freedom, trust, openness and humility to know what he reveals about
God and himself, and that leads to relationship of friendship with Christ, our peace/
comfort. This humility is not to be passive; it is like a child holding its mother’s/father’s
hand and walking together. It is self emptying, letting go the many pressures of life we
carry.
Afflictions are bound to happen, because we interact with complicated lives that cause
stress, anger, frustrations, and burdens of the heart are more painful than physical pain!
Hildegard of Bingen: ‘the path I walk often is path of error; there is shadow of death I
fear; what comfort do I have-the comfort of a pilgrim, knowing I am walking with God. I
am breath of God; I have to know God and feel God’. It is to such knowledge and
experience of beauty in life that Jesus is inviting us today and not to complicate life,
just let him awaken his love in us! These thoughts of Pope Francis help us learn from
Jesus meek and humble of heart to have peace: ‘weep not for what you have lost, fight
for what you have; weep not for what is dead, fight for what was born in you; weep not
for one who abandoned you, fight for who is with you; weep not for those who hate
you, fight for those who want you; weep not for your past, fight for your present
struggle; weep not for your suffering, fight for your happiness. with things that are
happening to us, we begin to learn that nothing is impossible for God, just move
forward with him’! When Jesus says, ‘come to me for rest’, he is saying, ‘let us move
forward together’.