Kitchen Catechism: Words of Wisdom
Every Day is a New Beginning.
It doesn’t matter how old, bruised and battered by the world you are, or how young, inexperienced and naive; God gives you this gift.
Every morning when you open your eyes you have a wonderful gift from the Lord of a new day and a new beginning. You have all the potential and possibilities of a new born babe, of a beautiful bud just opening it’s petals to the morning sun’s first rays. And it doesn’t matter how old, bruised and battered by the world you are, or how young, inexperienced and naive; God gives you this gift. What does matter, very much, is your relationship to God, because only in the Catholic-Christian concept of life is the gift possible. Yesterdays are over. A sincere sorrow for any wrong doing, expressed in the confessional as soon as possible, wipes the slate clean and a firm commitment to sin no more seals the covenant’s promise.
All of the above may be hard for you to accept if you are carrying heavy burdens not of your own making, or entangled in cords placed on you by other people. But Christ speaks only the truth and He has told us:
Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke and put it on you, and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in spirit; and you will find rest. For the yoke I will give you is easy, and the load I will put on you is light. (Mt 11, 28-30)
“For My burden is light and My yoke is easy.” Many times, especially while meditating after communion and when I have what seems like a particularly heavy burden in my life, those words come into my mind and I wonder what really does Jesus mean? I know He tells us we must love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our strength and being. That is the “Great Commandment of Love” and takes precedence over everything else. Love rules. So to love God with all of our being necessitates surrendering our will to His will. Abandoning everything to Him and that requires maximum trust in God. That is very, very hard to do but experience has taught me if you put your trust only in God, a sense of freedom pervades your whole being. Suddenly the world has no control over you, everything changes and then your burden becomes light and your yoke easy.
A new beginning is particularly relevant at this season of our year. It is Easter and He has risen, alleluia! He has confirmed He is truly the son of God and we believers become, just as the first women to discover the empty tomb, joyful and confident that now we must put into practice all He has taught us. We must go out into the world and lovingly disseminate His word.
CatholicWomen.com is the vehicle, in this year 1999, provided to accomplish what He asks of us. And we will not be found lacking in resolve or enthusiasm to answer His call. We will carefully plan the best ways we can bring unity to His Church, support and enhance His believers, and bring other people to follow the path with us that leads to Him.