Father Randy Koenigsknecht
Watch the Homily Short
Listen to the Homily Short
Are you exhausted from trying to fix your life on your own? In this Sunday’s Homily Short, Father Chas explains why Jesus doesn’t ask us to solve our problems before coming to Him. Instead, Christ invites us to surrender our burdens, trust in the Holy Spirit, and discover the freedom, joy, and peace that only He can provide.
Read the Homily Short
If you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
All right, that’s pretty cut and dry. Not a lot of room for compromise there.
If we’re following the flesh—if we’re following a way that’s turned away from God, turned away from life itself—we’re going to experience death. We can’t hold onto both at the same time.
Didn’t we just hear in the Gospel:
“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 my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
Sometimes that burden seems incredibly heavy. The yoke doesn’t seem particularly easy to carry. In fact, it can seem impossible.
That should tell us something.
Maybe there’s something wrong with our approach.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Go fix your life first.” He doesn’t say, “Lay down your burdens before you come to me.”
He simply says:
“Come to me.”
Come with everything weighing on your heart. Come with all the struggles you can’t fix. Come with all the places where you’ve failed.
And He says, “I will give you rest.”
He offers us a new way of living—one that’s carried with Him.
Not by our own scheming.
Not by trying harder.
Not by finding another program or another devotion that somehow fixes everything overnight.
Instead, we choose to come to the Lord.
We choose to rely on the Holy Spirit.
We invite Him to dwell within us.
Then we discover a power greater than ourselves.
We begin experiencing life.
Joy.
Peace.
Even now, we begin tasting the life of Heaven.
Our sins and failures keep us from experiencing that fully, but Christ wants to free us.
The answer isn’t simply trying harder.
It isn’t adding more things to our spiritual checklist.
It’s choosing a relationship with Jesus that’s full, total, and complete.
It’s making no provision for the old way of life.
When the Holy Spirit dwells within us, joy begins to replace what once only gave us temporary happiness.
We cling to so many things because they promise satisfaction.
But Christ offers something infinitely greater.
When we surrender those things to Him, we discover new life.
So what do we do?
We come to the Lord with every burden.
Not just the biggest ones.
Every struggle.
Every fear.
Every temptation.
That’s where victory begins.
Little by little.
Day by day.
“Lord, I want to live with You today.”
So make that your prayer:
“Lord, I want to be free.
I give You everything.
Show me where I don’t really want to let go.
Help me see it.”
Then put that prayer into action.
Faith without works is dead.
Ask the Lord for His power.
Ask Him to set you free.
Give Him everything.
Then take that next faithful step.
The burden is light because Christ carries it with us.
As we walk with Him, we’ll discover exactly what St. Paul experienced:
It isn’t our strength.
It’s God working within us, accomplishing what we could never do on our own.
And that’s where we find true life.
That’s where we discover the fullness of joy.