Learn from Me for I am Meek and Humble of Heart part one
"Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden light." Jesus' words in Matthew 11:29 offer us the opportunity to find true peace
of soul in our imitation of Him. Nonetheless, this, too, is part of that
narrow gate and few there are who find it, and even fewer who have the
courage to go through it. Albeit, it is an offer, an invitation, a plea to
imitate Him in this particular mode of His Life.
There is, of course, an alternative to the above invitation and many there
are who take it. It is to be brazen and proud of heart. These two
qualities lead one to the hardness of heart which Jesus spoke of in St.
Mark 16:14, "Afterward He appeared to the eleven as they sat at table; and
He upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart." It would seem
that it would follow that if one has not meekness, he finds himself in
unbelief, and if there is no humility, there is hardness of heart.
When in His life would you think that these qualities of meekness and
humility shone the brightest in the life of Jesus? Was it when He stood
before Pilate? When He was being scourged? When He hung pinned to the
Cross? Perhaps in all of these, but I think these qualities stood out most
as He spent the three hours beaten and broken, hanging naked and covered
shame before the reviling crowd. It was an ugly scent and yet within that
ugliness there came forth a beauty as no one had ever before or since
witnessed. The King of Heaven and earth bridged earth with Heaven to
accomplish the purpose for which He came among men. It was so very ugly in
what mankind did to Him; it was very beautiful in what He did for mankind.
It is the same ugliness and beauty, the same meekness and humility that
have manifested themselves down through the centuries and are found in our
midst today in the re-enactment of Calvary, in the unbloody sacrifice of
the Mass.
There is beauty in the fact that Jesus has made it possible for the
faithful of all centuries to be able to have before their eyes and hearts
the continuation of the sacrifice of the Cross. Though not actually
present at the scene of the sacrificial crucifixion, through receiving the
benefits thereof, the faithful of every age can participate actively in the
sacrificial action as confected by Jesus at the Last Supper. The fruits of
Christ's suffering and death flow out to the faithful, the fruits merited
for them at Calvary. Through the separate consecration of the bread and
wine and the fact of the transubstantiation, a real sacrifice takes place
each time the Mass is celebrated. At each Mass, Jesus gives Himself again
to the Father in our behalf, winning for us a flood of graces and an
extended period of mercy. The faithful, as living members of the Mystical
Body of Christ, together with its Head, Jesus, working through the priest
at the time of the Consecration, actively participate in a mystical, but
real sacrificial act of worship, an act duly recognized and readily
accepted as such by the Father. Jesus, meekly and humbly makes use of a
mere human being, one set apart and anointed, empowering him to bring the
sacrifice about in His stead.
Next installment: Backed by Canon Law
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