In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus exclaimed, "I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children."

What has God hidden from the wise and revealed to little ones? Here Jesus wasn't just speaking about young boys and girls, but all the poor, the under-privileged, the marginalized and the destitute. And what has God done for them?

Quite simply, some Jewish religious leaders claimed that to enter Good's Kingdom people needed a very detailed knowledge not only of the 613 Laws given to Moses, but also the multitude of additional minute precisions made to them. They were expected to observe every one of them.

But Jesus tells us that is not accurate. He has come to remove the crushing, impossible, burden of so many rules and regulations. To each of us he says, 'Come to me all you who labor and over-burdened, and I will give you rest." Jesus offers those, who would be dismissed as ignorant and unimportant, freedom from trying to carry such an impossible burden; now they -we -can rest in the Lord, in a happiness which had seemed impossible.

But Jesus goes on to say, 'My yoke is easy, my burden light.' That removes any complacency we may feel. We can't yet sit back and relax. Following Christ is demanding and at times difficult. But the demands are not meticulous observance of petty man-made regulations, but something far more serious. That is the command to love God above all else, and our neighbor as ourselves. The command to love covers everything that really matters. It touches every corner of our lives. Laws are only good in so far as they protect and foster real love.

And what about the yoke Christ mentions in this Gospel? Well, as you probably know, a yoke is a piece of wood, shaped to rest comfortably on the shoulders. Loads are attached to each end and are easy to carry because their weight is spread. The point is that we must carry our crosses and follow Christ on the difficult journey of love, if we are to find the eternal rest which He promises. But

Jesus here tells us that with His help we can carry the weight of our crosses. He can transform carrying our burdens into labors of love.We couldn't begin to do that without Him. But, with His assistance we can do what would be humanly impossible.

There's a beautiful story which shows that this can transform drudgery into a labor of love. Someone, seeing a lad carrying his young brother on his back, sympathetically remarked, "That's a heavy load you're carrying."To which the lad replied, "That's not a load; that's my little brother!" That came from the heart and was, indeed, a labor of love!

So, while the so-called wise thought they could reach heaven through their detailed knowledge of rules and their own efforts in observing them, Christ has a completely different approach. The law of love is the only way to heaven. The wonderful thing is that with God's help that is possible for all of us. That's what's been revealed to us little ones!

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