29 April, Monday — Release Your Burden

29 April — Memorial of St Catherine of Siena, virgin & doctor

St. Catherine (1347-1380) was the youngest child in a large family. At the age of six, she had a vision in which Jesus appeared and blessed her. Her parents wanted her to marry, but she became a Dominican tertiary. She was a mystic and stigmatist. She received a vision in which she was in mystical marriage with Christ, and the Infant Christ presented her with a wedding ring. She was counsellor to Pope Gregory XI and Pope Urban VI. She was proclaimed Doctor of the Church on 4 October 1970.

• Patron Saint Index

1 Jn 1:5-2:2
Mt 11:25-30

Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Little children love to be carried, and it is honestly disarming when my child turns to me and raises his arms wide, seeking “a carry”. From the time he was born, I have been ‘babywearing’ him in a baby carrier. I loved having him in front of me, close to my heart and his soft fuzzy head lightly grazing my chin. I could conveniently bend my head down, nuzzle the top of his head and take in his lovely scent. It is also incredibly precious to notice him peering up at me in adoration, though I am sure the underside of my chin is not my best look. According to my son, I am the most beautiful mummy in the whole world, and even when I feel downright grubby and sweaty on a hot day, he would still ask to be carried or cuddled closely.

He is six now. Those were the years… Well, he still asks to be carried some days when he is feeling awfully tired or recently, when he was sick with fever.

Likewise, when we look up to God who is our Heavenly Father in adoration, and seek His help, we will surely be met with tenderness and willingness to help us, to enfold and draw us close into His grace. God could never refuse us a good thing. Just as in today’s Gospel, Jesus said to the crowds who came to hear him preach, “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.” (Mt 11:25). God, like a loving earthly parent, enjoys the surrendering of his exhausted children — us!

Have you been saddled with a heavy heart lately? There are certainly some burdens that aren’t meant to be borne, and we must learn to tell the difference between what is our responsibility and what is beyond our control. Indeed we would do well to watch the simple trust of a young child. When faced with a challenge beyond their current ability, babies and young toddlers will immediately look to their parents or caregivers for help. They will turn towards the source of help and reach out with a cry, whine or whimper. Even the most obstinate of characters will eventually relent, if a block could not be stacked or a door just doesn’t seem to open, and seek rescue. However, as adults, we seem to have lost this ability to have complete trust and reliance on our most faithful source of divine help — God.

In fact, it is observed that the older one gets, the more resistant one becomes to making a request for assistance.

Perhaps it is time to take a lesson or two from our young ones, whether you are a parent, grandparent, aunt/uncle, or observer. God has given us the Holy Spirit as our helper and advocate. If we are stumped for solutions, we can always call out to Our Consoler, and the Spirit of Truth. We are not without help, let us be simple and humble like the littlest and youngest amongst us!

I would like to leave you with an evocative excerpt from St Theresé of Lisieux (The Story of a Soul):

I must put up with myself just as I am with all my imperfections. But I wish to find the way to go to Heaven by a very straight, short, completely new little way […] I, too, would like to find an elevator to lift me up to Jesus, for I am too little to climb the rough stairway of perfection.

So I have looked in the books of the saints for a sign of the elevator I long for, and I have read these words proceeding from the mount of eternal Wisdom: “He that is a little one, let him turn to me.” So I came, knowing that I had found what I was seeking and wanting to know, O my God, what you would do with the little one who would answer Your call, and this is what I found:

“As one whom the mother caresses, so will I comfort you. You shall be carried at the breasts and upon the knees they shall caress you.” Never have more tender words come to make my soul rejoice. The elevator which must raise me to the heavens is Your arms, O Jesus! For that I do not need to grow; on the contrary, I must necessarily remail small, become smaller. O my God, You have surpassed what I expected, and I want to sing Your mercies.’

(Today’s OXYGEN by Debbie Loo)

Prayer: Dear Jesus, I am finding it hard to lay down the many cares I hold in the core of my heart. They are too many to speak of, too complex to untangle. Help me to undo these knots as I lift my hands in surrender to Your Love.

Thanksgiving: How gracious are you God to allow me to be a child in your presence. How patient are you God for you never tire of watching me wrestle with letting go, and yet you are there ready to raise me up, when I finally surrender.