Jesus, Our Cyrenian

Peasant Times-Dispatch Issue 30

Every burden soon oppresses us, if we do not have Jesus as our Cyrenian

- Don Colacho

Don Colacho

We’re back to Don Colacho. He’s a favorite of mine—the last quote of his I did an essay on was in January, which you can find here. Don Colacho, otherwise known as Nicolás Gómez Dávila, was a Colombian philosopher and is part of the pantheon of peasantly thinkers. He viewed the world in a way that resonated deeply with me, and occasionally makes excellent spiritual points as well. It’s one of these spiritual points I would like to explore today.

This quote is #2,388 on his list of aphorisms.

Bootstrappin’ It

I recently had the experience where a priest visited my parish. I loved his zeal in homilies—but when it came time for Confession I was intimidated by his zeal there, too¹.

In the confessional he asked me a question that struck me, and really helped me look at my spiritual life with fresh eyes. He asked me, “What are you doing to stop [committing your particular sins] anymore?”

Whoa. It’s such a sensible question that I was taken aback and I didn’t really know how to answer. I fumbled my way through it and he gave me my penance and absolution and I was on my way.

But the question stuck. What AM I doing? Am I really serious about amending my life and sinning no more? I should have a better answer to this question.

The fact is, I am prone to something I think many modern Catholics are prone to, and that is trying to lift myself up by my bootstraps. That if I can’t do it on my own it’s not worth doing, that my holiness is directly proportional to how much I can solve my problems on my own and that no Saint ever asked for help.

This is, of course, what the scientific community calls “baloney”². Don Colacho cuts right to the heart of the matter—if we do not bring our troubles to Jesus, so He can help us carry them, we will soon become discouraged, downtrodden, and ultimately succumb again to our own human weakness.

The Yoke Is Easy, The Burden Light

Don Colacho points out, rightly, that under our own power we can do very little. Having Jesus as our Cyrenian means these burdens suddenly cease to be burdens at all. Jesus can’t help but carry the greater part of all our burdens, if we let Him. So the only weight we feel is, you guessed it—only what God knows we can carry. And as anyone who has worked out knows, the only way you increase your carrying capacity is by pushing it a little bit each time.

Our burdens oppress us when they make us stop carrying them. When we want to put them down, when we want to give up and stop trying. This shouldn’t discourage us—even Jesus stumbled under the cross. But it’s those stumbling moments when we should ask ourselves, what are we actually doing to carry this. And we should ask how we are asking Jesus for help carrying it, and turn a burden into an offering³.

My favorite parable is the parable that the yoke is easy and the burden light. Following Christ does not mean all our worries and troubles will vanish—it’s an easy yoke, but it’s still a yoke; it’s a light burden, but still a burden. The thing I often forget, and which I would like to remind you—is that a yoke is built for two, and next to us carrying the greater share is Christ.

The Lord Is My Strength

This is the season⁴ of doing hard things for a good cause. A peasant isn’t a stranger to approaching hard tasks, facing penitential circumstances whether they were chosen or not. The important thing is to recognize that Jesus is our Cyrenian in all things and not just the hard things. That God is doing the greater share of work in our lives, and we are in many ways along for the ride.

Recognizing this truth can fill us with gratitude for our daily, quotidian works; it can also give us strength to bear our unusual or extraordinary works. It can help us accept circumstances in humility by remembering that God wouldn’t give them to us if He didn’t know we could bear it.

This might be a small consolation in the time of trial. That’s the unfortunate paradox of facing trials with the Lord: the stronger we become, the bigger trials we learn we can handle. If God is with us, who can be against us?

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

Thank you for reading! God bless!

AJPM

1. Harder to convince myself he wasn’t talking to me in the confessional.

2. See the peer reviewed research paper by Oscar, Meyer, et al, 1973

3. Secret Santa with Catholics, where all the gifts are burdens. Everyone leaves grateful, but no one leaves happy. Workshop it…

4. Lent. The season is Lent.