Pope: God’s Love Is Cure for Ills of Society
Offers Reflection on “Yoke” of Christ
VATICAN CITY, JULY 3, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The answer to the many situations of injustice, poverty and suffering around the world lies in the love of God, says Benedict XVI.
The Pope said this today in a reflection on the “yoke” of Christ, which he delivered before praying the midday Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
“In today’s Gospel,” the Holy Father began, “the Lord Jesus repeats to us those words we know well, but which always move us: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.'”
The Pontiff explained that when Christ preached and cured the sick, “he felt compassion for the crowds, ‘because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.'”
“That gaze of Jesus seems to extend to today, to our world,” he said. “Even today it rests on so many people oppressed by difficult conditions of life, but also deprived of valid points of reference to find a meaning and aim to their existence.
“Many of the weak are found in the poorest countries, tested by poverty; and even in the richest countries there are so many dissatisfied men and women, in fact sick with depression. Then we think of the numerous dispersed peoples and refugees, and all those who emigrate putting their own life at risk.
“Christ’s look pauses on all these people, rather on each one of these children of the Father who is in Heaven and repeats: ‘Come to me, all you.'”
Force of truth
Benedict XVI said that Christ promises “rest” to all, but only with the condition that they ‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.'”
The “yoke” of Christ, the Pope said, “is the law of love, it is his commandment, which he left to his disciples.”
He then stated: “The true remedy for the wounds of humanity — whether they are material, such as hunger and injustice, or psychological and moral, caused by a false sense of well being — is a rule of life based on fraternal love, which has its source in the love of God.
“It is therefore necessary to abandon the path of arrogance and violence that is used to procure positions of greater power, so as to ensure success at any cost.”
“Also, out of respect for the environment,” he continued, “it is necessary to give up the aggressive lifestyle that has become prevalent in the last centuries and to adopt a reasonable ‘meekness.'”
“But above all in human, interpersonal and social relations, the rule of respect and of nonviolence, that is, the force of truth against any abuse is what can ensure a future worthy of man,” the Holy Father stated.
“May the Virgin help us,” the Pontiff concluded, “to ‘learn’ from Jesus’ true humility, to take up with determination his light yoke, to experience interior peace and become in turn capable of consoling our brothers and sisters who continue to work hard as they travel the path of life.”
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