“‘Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you,’
… says the Lord. ‘TAKE MY YOKE UPON YOU, YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS, FOR MY YOKE IS EASY, AND MY BURDEN LIGHT.’ He invites laborers to refreshment, he summons the heavy laden to rest. Yet he does not here below withdraw either the burden or the labor; rather he changes one burden for another, one labor for another, but for a light burden and an easy yoke in which we find rest and refreshment, even though at first this may not seem so.
Iniquity is a heavy burden resting on a leaden weight; groaning beneath this load was the man who said: “My iniquities have gone over my head; they weight like a burden too heavy for me.” What then is Christ’s burden, what is this light burden? As I feel it, it is the burden of his benefits. A sweet burden, but only to him who feels it, who has experience of it. Otherwise, if you do not find it so, if you do not perceive it so, it is exceedingly heavy and dangerous.
Man is a beast of burden all his life long. If he still bears his sin, his burden is heavy. But if he is disburdened from his sin, it is less heavy; but if he has good sense, he will find disburdenment from sin no less a burden, as I have said.
God burdens us when he disburdens us: he burdens us with grace when he disburdens us of sin. The voice of the burdened man [cries]: “What shall I repay to the Lord for all he has given me?” The voice of the burdened man [cries]: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” The voice of the burdened man [cries]: “I have always feared God as waves swelling over me.” He says, “I have always feared,” before as well as after receiving forgiveness of sin. Blessed is the man who is always this timid and is no less distressed at being overwhelmed by benefits than by sins.
Such unremitting and lavish divine liberality is shown toward us to stimulate us to grace and to invite us to love. HE HAS GIVEN HIS ANGELS CHARGE OVER YOU TO GUARD YOU IN ALL YOUR WAYS. What more can he do for you and has not done?
– St. Bernard, Sermons on Conversion 15, 1-2 –
