Prayer for Vocations - June 25, 2023

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” - Matthew 11:28-30

Reflection

All people can go through periods of uncertainty and pain; However, it is not news that sometimes during youth, we can struggle to find meaning in things and to find a purpose or the path that we want our lives to follow.

This often leads us to undermine our mental, and just as important, our spiritual health, taking our faith to be relegated behind the darkness and restlessness of feeling lost and abandoned. Behind the feeling of having no one who can understand or help us, we feel sad and hopelessly alone in the world.

However, it is in these moments when He calls us and invites us to turn to Him as the refuge for our troubled souls, and we start taking the first steps towards finding the purpose of our life. "Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." When Jesus invites us to give up the worries in our life over to Him and have faith in His ability to bring us comfort, peace, and inner relief, the first steps of creating community with him begin. And it is precisely through a close relationship with Him that we find rest and experience the renewal for which we long.

When talking about the yoke, instead of being thought of as something that weighs on us, we can also understand it as a symbol for the connection we get to share with Christ if we choose to accept it. He invites us to join Him in communion, sharing our deepest and complex thoughts and feelings and allowing him to guide our lives. We are also connected with our community through reflection, trust, and the desire to help.

By taking His yoke, we learn of Jesus, mildness, and humility; His call urges us to get rid of our egos and open ourselves to receive but most importantly, to give. As we learn from Jesus and follow His example, we find spiritual rest by recognizing that we are part of a larger and far-reaching action that heads towards making a better place for ourselves, working internally, and for everyone else, regardless of their personal stories and beliefs since these teachings are of a human nature, and not exclusive to any religion.

With this passage, we are reminded that there is no obstacle or problem too big to stand between us and our salvation when we have Him on our side; Additionally, there is a lesson about being able to give up our sometimes false idea of how things should be and accept that we will not always have all the answers, that we do not always have to endure everything alone, but in community, and by the hand of our Lord.

Love changes everything along with the willingness to want to be instruments of peace and change - instruments that console, understand, and love as He has taught us.

When we reflect on His words, we understand that God does not ask us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. His son was capable of sacrificing Himself for that purpose; we only need to learn to live with the responsibility of our own humanity and the decisions that this entails, always aware that no man is an island, with faith, and by letting ourselves be guided by God. Always acting from love, we will never take the wrong path.

Together, we have chosen this passage on which to reflect because we as young people see it as a call that invites us to delve into the spiritual aspect of our relationship with God, making us feel at the same time wanted, needed, and cared for by the Lord.  We are in the need to discover our call and looking for the guidance of our RSCJ to learn how to navigate our journey, so our actions are made with integrity.

Questions for reflecting/sharing:

1. How does Matthew 11:28-30 invite us to find meaning and purpose in our lives, particularly during periods of uncertainty and pain?

2. From the perspective of mindfulness, how do you believe the invitation in Matthew 11:28-30, of finding rest and surrender burdens, can resonate with young adults who are seeking a sense of belonging and purpose, and how can mindfulness and spiritual practices support them in this journey?

To close our monthly reflection, we would like to share with you the SacredHeartDNA prayer, and a beautiful song interpreted by members of the choir and family of Yannina Gonzalez, SacredHeartDNA member:

Sophie and Philippine guide our

Hearts to

Discover our call and vocation and helps us to

Navigate our life with integrity and so our

Actions follow the steps of Jesus and his Gospel