Holiness: Running a Marathon or Learning to Walk? | July 16

Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.

A short but powerful Gospel reading today.

“Jesus said:
‘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 yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

And our first reading from Isaiah is the passage I’ve been quoting a lot lately:

“O Lord, … it is you who have accomplished all we have done.”

At the beginning of the reading he says,

“The way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level.”

I think these two statements from Isaiah make a big statement about why Jesus’s yoke is easy and His burden light. When we seek out the ways of the Lord, He clears the path. He does the heavy lifting. And He requires of us is a “yes” to His will. It’s so easy when you think about it like that. Instead of thinking of our pursuit of holiness as a marathon, maybe we should simply think of it as learning to walk. We would understand that we might fall with every step that we take, but if we do then all we have to do is get back up and keep focusing on that next step. Jesus will clear the roadblocks, but He will challenge us too.

Fr. Mike Schmitz often says, “Just do the next right thing.” Instead of worrying about being perfect all the time, focus on doing the right thing, right now.

 

-Amanda Benner, Director of Evangelization