Once, an archaeologist went on a pilgrimage to the Himalayas. In ancient times the temples, situated at great heights, were very difficult to reach and many people simply did not return because they died on their way. People must have walked along small paths on the edge of very deep cliffs, with eternal snows. Just a small slip and it would be all over for them. Now the roads are in better condition, but at the time we are talking about, they were very bad.
The archaeologist was tired, even though he was carrying only a few things (carrying many things at that altitude is impossible). In addition, as one ascends, it becomes more difficult to breathe.
In front of him, he saw a girl who was not more than ten years old, carrying a little chubby boy on her shoulders. She was sweating and breathing heavily. When the man passed her, he said to her: “you must be very tired. You are carrying a heavy load on your shoulders.” The girl replied: “You are the one who carries a load, not me. He is not a load; he is my little brother.”
This little anecdote has a great teaching: “there is no weight where there is charity.” This is the law of the Gospel; this is what Jesus added to the Law, all the: you have heard… but I say to you… that probably shocked His audience. That doctrine contains the essence of our religion, the secret of our religiosity: we should add love to our actions if we want to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48).
The commandments are an unbearable weight if we fulfill them out of obligation. The commandments have one goal: charity. If the Church would preach the commandments only as a duty to be fulfilled, then the Church would automatically kill Her children. Christians (lay people, Bishops, religious, priests, etc.) who live out of obligation and not out of love are killing the heroic seed that the Gospel sows in their soul. Those who live them out of duty carry a heavy load that will, sooner or later, break them.
Nowadays, inside and outside of the Church we hear many voices who want to water down the Gospel, and who ask the Church to allow things that are forbidden according to the New Testament, simply because those things are difficult to live or impossible to be accepted by our society.
While it is true that those things are difficult to be accepted by our society, it is also true that those things were difficult to be accepted by Jesus’ society. The law of the Gospel is difficult for any society that tries to live them without charity. The law of the Gospel is difficult for any society, although it is actually the best way to live this life. The law of the Gospel is difficult for any society, however if the whole world lived according to the Gospel, life would be much easier for everyone. Charity makes life easier because charity is not a weight.
