“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:29).
The Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, “We do not know what the future holds… There is only one thing that we do know: That is, if the truth wins, we win! And if the truth… Ah, but the truth cannot lose.”
And I have been reflecting on winning and losing ever since I first heard those words…
Almost two years ago, I had a conversion – through Grace and no merit of my own, I suddenly and inexplicably understood something of the very nature of God. I understood His INFINITE AND PERFECT GOODNESS!
And so it was, that in fact, the very essence of my conversion occurred through the profound faith and belief in the ETERNAL PERFECT GOODNESS OF GOD! And knowing this, I know that God – who is “the Way and the TRUTH and the Life” (John 14:6, emphasis added) is perfectly capable to moving ALL THINGS to the good.
And the most beautiful and profound miracle of my understanding such a thing is that once it is learned, once a soul really believes that truth to the very marrow of their bones – so to speak – there really is nothing of which we should fear!
Often, through this new vocation of mine, I have opportunity to converse with other souls along the Road to Calvary. And many times, such souls tell me that they wish that I knew them in the past – when things were difficult or when times were trying. They see something in me that comforts them.
But I know exactly what it is that they see – it is the LOVE OF GOD HIMSELF…
You see, before the moment of my conversion, I was afraid... All. The. Time.
I was forever deeply afraid of losing – losing through my own weakness… Basically, it all boiled down to being afraid of failure.
And, ironically, because the world is a corrupted place, this fear of failure worked perfectly to elevate me in the world. You see, people like me who are afraid work harder than it is possible to work just so that we can keep going. For someone like me it is less difficult to strive for perfection than it could ever be to pick myself up and dust myself off after falling down. And so, to all the world it appeared that I was very successful… To all the world – that is – except my Creator.
My Creator, who knows me and loves me in ways that I shall never fathom saw my fear. ANd seeing my weakness He gave me His strength!
Because He – my Beloved – is perfect goodness, what did He do with the product of my fallen nature, with my pride and perfectionism?’
Well, He simply gathered it altogether and showed me something of Himself.
It is no coincidence – no mere metaphor – when Christ says… “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
And I know this – even in the very marrow of my bones – because in Him I have found comfort and rest and peace… For He is “Gentle and Humble of Heart…”
And how could I ever thank my Beloved for that?
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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