Someone says: "What if I want to have? Oh, if only I had! God, give me that I may have. Behold, my neighbor has what I do not have: he is greeted, and he does not greet; I greet in return, and he does not greet. God, give me." If you dislike him, why do you wish to be like him? He himself says: "I greet in return, and I am not greeted"; and he desires to be what he condemns. "But," he says, "when I have, not only will I greet in return, but I will also greet first." Out of desire to have, you submit yourself: but he who made you knows you better; he better advises you who does not give what is not expedient for you. Certainly, that you may have, because you rightly think you will have, will use well, and govern piously; that you may have riches, you fear labor and want. Do you wish to be blessed? Come to him who cries: I will refresh you. The only thing is that you learn what he says: Learn from me, because I am meek and humble in heart. For you look to your wealthy neighbor, having and being proud: by looking at him and emulating him, you will be proud; you will not be humble unless you look at him who was made humble for your sake. Learn from Christ what you do not learn from man: in him is the model of humility; whoever comes to him is first formed in humility itself, that he may be adorned in exaltation. For what is his appearance? Who, though in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men, and found in appearance as a man: he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross. He said so much, and had not yet ended the measure of his humility unless he had added: even death on a cross; for this kind of death had great opprobrium among the Jews. He took this, which had great opprobrium, that he might give a reward from that very humility to those who do not blush. How far did he go, cutting down your pride? Even to the reproaches of the cross.
How light is the burden of Christ!
But perhaps as small? He who, being in the form of God. Pay attention: when have you been in the form of God? And do you blush to be humbled, for whose sake the form of God was humbled? Learn, he says, from me. You have not found out how great a foundation of your loftiness you knew: He says, Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For indeed in all your desires you seek rest: for this reason you are restless, while seeking, so that, having found what you seek, you may finally rest. You think this in vain: by finding what you wrongly seek, you will be more restless. He says, Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls; for my yoke is easy. Did you fear being bound? My yoke is easy, sweet; if you feared being bound, desire to be pleasantly bound. Do you not see even in the very bodies of humans seeking and desiring temporal things there are certain bindings, of which people are pleased? How difficult it is for them to allow themselves to be loosened! He who has a collar, pleases himself with the collar, which desire twists. And do you think that the yoke of Christ will strangle you? Do not fear, accept: it is easy; it restrains miserable freedom, does not bring any harshness. And my burden is light. Do not think that I will not impose something on you, if you are my beast of burden - this your Lord says to you - I will impose my burden: but do not fear, it is light; it does not weigh you down, but lifts you up; it does not burden, but honors. It is not so light, although not very heavy: as small burdens are, which when carried, the one who carries them says: "It is light"; still even the light itself, although not much, has some weight. The burden of Christ is so light that it lifts: you will not be pressed by but lifted by it; without it you will not rise. Consider this burden to be such for you as the wings are for birds: if birds have the burden of wings, they are lifted up; if they are removed, they remain on the ground. For what is heavy to a lover? Do we not see - to omit innumerable other things with which the human race boils and is worn out - how much a hunter labors, what he endures, what heats in summer, what colds in winter, what thickets of forests, what difficulties of paths, what slopes of mountains? Love, however, not only makes all these things tolerable, but even pleasant: so pleasant that, if you forbid hunting, then he labors, then he suffers dreadful mental tedium; he cannot bear rest. So much is endured to reach a boar; and it is hard to endure to reach God!
The burden of Christ is called love.
Therefore Christ said this. When you heard: My burden is light, do not think about what the martyrs suffered here, and say to yourselves: "How is Christ's burden light?" Men confessed Him and suffered so much: boys confessed Him, girls confessed Him; the stronger and weaker sex, the older and younger age, all deserved to confess and be crowned. I think they did not labor. Why did they not labor? Because they endured everything with love. This is the burden of Christ, which He deigns to impose: it is called love, it is said to be love, it is named affection. Through this, whatever was most laborious before will be easy for you; through this, whatever you weighed as heavy will be light. Take up this burden: it will not weigh you down, it will lift you up; it will be wings for you, which before you have them, cry out to the one calling: Who will give me wings like a dove? - not like a raven, but like a dove, and I will fly, he says. And as if you were asking: For what? And I will find rest. Therefore through that burden you will find rest for your souls. Take up this burden, these wings; and if you begin to have them, nourish them. Let these wings reach such a measure that you may be able to fly. One wing is, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. But do not remain with one wing; for if you think you have one, you do not have it at all. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. For if you do not love your brother whom you see, how can you love God whom you do not see? Let the other wing come: thus you will fly, thus you will take away desire from earthly things, you will fix love in heavenly things. As you strive with these two wings, you will meanwhile have your heart lifted up; so that the lifted-up heart may in due course also lift up its flesh. And do not think that having all the wings is too much for you: indeed, the numerous precepts of this love should be sought in the Holy Scriptures, in which the reader and listener may be exercised; but on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.