Dear Fathers, Friends in Christ,
Deuteronomy 7:6-11
Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8, 10
1 John 4:7-16
Matthew 11:25-30
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.
(see Matthew 11:30)
It is much easier to submit to life in Christ than it is to carry the burden of thinking that we are responsible for our own salvation.
We sometimes impose impossible demands on ourselves, and we then indulge in self-loathing when we fall short of our ideals. In effect, we are putting the burden of salvation on ourselves rather than gratefully accepting our having been ransomed from spiritual death by our Savior.
In Christ our souls find rest. The Greek word for "soul" also means "life." Life in the Holy Spirit brings true rest in the depths of our being, a "place" which touches eternity and is beyond sense perception.
"If I have this divine life in me, what do the accidents of pain and pleasure, hope and fear, joy and sorrow matter to me? They are not my life and they have little to do with it. Why should I fear anything that cannot rob me of God, and why should I desire anything that cannot give me possession of Him?"
(Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation, Chap. 22)
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
