This weekend’s Gospel includes a sentence that is very familiar to us…Jesus assures us that no matter how heavy we think our burdens are in life, He will be there to support us. He says, “Come to Me all you who labor and are weary and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Very comforting! Jesus does not mean here that our burdens will be easy to carry, but rather that what befalls us in life is “laid on us in love” and is meant to be “carried in love”…and love makes even the heaviest burdens light. Jesus offers the light burden of his commandment of love on us and “yokes us” with Himself, giving us His strength through his Holy Spirit. If we accept His yoke, we will make it through even the most difficult of situations in life. Jesus is also interested in lifting off our backs the burdens that suck the life out of us, so that he can place around our necks his own yoke that brings to us and to others through us, new life, new energy, and new joy. We are called, not only to find peace, refreshment and rest for ourselves, but also to live the kind of life through which others, too, may find God's peace. This refreshing grace brings joy…true joy. Life's greatest burden is not having too much to do, nor having too much to care about because some of the happiest people in the world are the busiest and those who care the most. Think about it…the greatest burden we have is perhaps our constant engagement with the trivial and the unimportant, with the temporary and the passing and with the ultimately uncontrollable and unpredictable! Isn’t this the truth? Bring your burdens to the Lord!!!.A few years ago, The Comprehensive Care Corporation of Tampa, Florida published a booklet about stress in our modern world. The facts are disturbing. (1) One out of four (that’s 25% of the American People) suffers from mild to moderate depression, anxiety, loneliness and other painful symptoms which are attributed mainly to stress. (2) Four out of five adult family members see a need for less stress in their daily lives. (3) Approximately half of all diseases can be linked to stress-related origins, including ulcers, colitis, bronchial asthma, high blood pressure and some forms of cancer. (4) Unmanaged stress is a leading factor in homicides, suicides, child abuse, spouse abuse and other aggravated assaults. (5) The problem of stress is taking a tremendous toll economically, also. In our nation alone, we Americans are now spending 64.9 billion dollars a year trying to deal with the issue of stress. That is why Jesus shared the “good news” with us a long time ago when He said: “Come to me all of you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11: 28). GOSPEL QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: To whom do you go when the day to day responsibilities weigh heavily on you? Try Jesus!