Daily Gospel Reflection for July 18, 2024

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

I never truly understood what a yoke was until I read Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder with my daughter. The book is, in part, about two cows that Almanzo, the “farmer boy,” receives as a gift and his many trials and tribulations in teaching them to walk and plow while yoked together. This piece of information is key: a yoke is meant for two to increase productivity; it is to combine the effort of two to do a task. Together they can carry more, move faster, and help each other.

When Jesus says to us “my yoke is easy” (Matthew 11:30), I often wanted to picture myself having something placed on me by Jesus, but what I have come to appreciate since reading Farmer Boy is that He is telling me that He is walking beside me. If I am taking on His yoke, He is carrying that yoke as well. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit are steering us as Jesus helps me carry the burdens in my life.

Our mission on earth is the mission He gave His disciples: “make disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) We can trust that if we are yoked to Him, we will walk in His ways, proclaiming the Gospel, loving others and inviting them into the Truth, the Way, and the Life: Jesus.

When we yoke ourselves to Jesus, He is giving us the strength to live as He lived: loving, teaching, healing, sacrificing, rising, and hoping. We can rest in the hope that yoked to Him we will be blessed to be united with Him in glory. Until then, we can rest in the truth that He is always with us, yoked to us to carry anything and everything we face in this life.

Ponder:

Where in your life can you allow yourself to become yoked to Jesus so that He can help you move forward, gain strength, and lessen your burdens?

Pray:

Lord, help me to recognize that You want to help me carry all You need me to do on this earth. Help me to live as You lived by staying yoked to You on my journey.

Daily Gospel 2