By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski's homily in Titusville, FL at Mass with over 300 members of the Neocatechumenal Way from around Southeast U.S. Saturday, July 4, 2026.
In the Gospel reading Jesus says: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
As Christians this is the good news we must share with all those people, and there are lots of them, who carry heavy burdens. And you will meet many of them during your “two by two’s”.
People are burdened with fears and anxieties – about how they’ll pay their rent, or feed their kids, about what happens if ICE grabs them or a loved one. People are burdened in their relationships – in marriages under stress, with kids that are unruly or worse caught up with drugs or sex. People are burdened with their health or lack of it – with worries about that biopsy, with dealing with the pain of a dying relative. And, of course, there are burdens we impose on ourselves: the burden of self-doubt, self-blame, the burden of shame, of guilt we often carry within ourselves. And there are burdens of our resentments, our anger.
Yes, people today carry heavy burdens – all sorts of burdens. Jesus’ words today offer relief: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
This the “good news” we proclaim through our announcement of the Kerygma. Christ has died; he is risen. We are offered the possibly of being freed of those burdens that weigh us down.
But, for some, the Christian message has been so distorted that they no longer take it seriously. Some preachers have claimed that faith in Christ removes all desire for sin. Not so. Each one of us still has to deal with and resist temptation. Others have preached a message that faith in Jesus Christ removes all doubt and fear in one’s life. Nonsense! The lives of the saints show us differently. Still others tell us that with Christ you’ll have such a feeling of acceptance that you’ll never ever feel lonely again. Or that he will give us wealth, health, and success. Not true! And we’ve been told that if you believe in Jesus Christ your children will grow up good, you’ll get promotions where you work, and that your illnesses and sicknesses will be minor. Not true! We are “poor banished children of Eve, mourning and weeping this this valley of tears”.
The Christian faith is not magic. Christ’s life was not painless and totally free of burdens. Quite the contrary! Jesus does promise us glory, but road to glory passes through the Way of the Cross. And he invites us to take up our cross daily and follow him.
But what He does offer us is to be yoked with Him, to take up your burdens and tasks through life with Him, sharing His yoke, drawing on His strength, and letting Him help you while you help Him accomplish His tasks. Christ doesn’t do things for you; He does things with you
To yoke yourself to Jesus is not to burden you, for faith is a gift that allows us to find rest in the midst of a world in turmoil.
Jesus was preaching to the Jewish people of his time who were suffering a lot. Life was hard – and it imposed heavy and painful burdens on them. And what was worse, their religious leaders imposed even more burdens - imposed heavy and painful burdens upon them presenting them with an impossible set of laws, rules and regulations that could never be met while at the same time presenting them with an angry and vengeful God who could seemingly never be satisfied.
Jesus, himself a Jew, had burdens, many burdens. Remember the gospel tells us he had no place to lay his head. But His religion was never a burden. It was a support; it carried Him; His relationship with His Father empowered Him, filling Him with God’s Holy Spirit. He knew that His Father was a gentle, caring, and generous Father who loved with a love infinitely greater than any human love.
This is the good news we proclaim. Jesus wants to be yoked with us – because “his yoke is easy and his burden light.”
Jesus was speaking to farmers. They might have been simple folk, but they probably understood what he was saying better than we might – since we don’t know too much about farming. Jesus is not speaking of egg yolks. The yoke Jesus was talking about was a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.
The Scripture commentators remind us that those who listened to Jesus understood the image here. Farmers would yoke together a stronger, more experienced ox with a younger and inexperienced one – so that the stronger would teach the weaker.
Jesus invites us to "yoke" ourselves to him for he understands the weakness of our fallen human nature. His yoke is lighter – not because he demands less of us but because he bears more of the load for us. In that sense, instead of thinking that being a Catholic Christian is a burden – as some would believe – let us see it as a gift. A gift that brings us joy even in adversity.
Take my yoke upon you…. It would seem that Jesus is asking us to shoulder a heavy burden. Sometimes, we might think of our religion like that: a burden. After all, it “demands” that we go to Mass on Sundays; and there seems to be a lot of rules and regulations, starting with those 10 Commandments. So, to take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves might seem to be something really hard. But Jesus offers you something that can make life essentially beautiful for you and for me. “Come to me,” He cries, “all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart. And your souls will find rest, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Faith in Jesus is God’s gift to us received in our baptism when going into the waters we were buried with Christ, dying with him to sin and rising to a New Life, as Sons and Daughters of God and brothers and sisters to him and to one another, for we have become members of his Body, a Body that is alive because of His Spirit given to us.
So, faith in Jesus is not a burden but a gift. Having met Jesus Christ is the best thing that has ever happen to us and to share him with others is our joy.
