By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at the send-off Mass for pilgrims traveling to Rome for the Jubilee of Young People at Saint Mary Cathedral in Miami on July 17, 2025.
Jesus said: "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 I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
Welcome, pilgrims of hope. We might say that your jubilee pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Young People begins today, from this cathedral, the Mother Church of this Archdiocese.
As you prepare for this pilgrimage, please know that you are going to Rome as representatives of the Church in Miami. So, we send you forth with prayer and ask you to remember to pray for us, to pray for your parish communities, to pray for your families that our hope - which is in Jesus Christ – be strengthened. In a world of fragile peace and broken promises, we need to know Jesus more, we need to know him better, for Jesus who is “meek and humble of heart” is the one hope who will never disappoint.
As you prepare to journey to Rome, remember you go as pilgrims – not tourists. Tourists, you know, spend a lot of money to get to where they want to go; they expect a good time – and that everything goes according to plans. They expect to be pampered.
Now, pilgrims are not tourists. It’s true that pilgrims also spend a lot of money to go to where they want to go. But a pilgrimage is a journey of faith that, in a way, mirrors one’s life journey. We should not go through life as simply tourists looking to be pampered but as pilgrims. During our life’s journeys things do not always go as planned. Just as our life journey may involve having to carry the cross, during a pilgrimage we may have to carry a cross. And we must learn to carry whatever crosses we find in life or on pilgrimage patiently…patiently. That cross may be a bus that breaks down, or a fellow pilgrim who may be difficult to get along with. A tourist would complain…. a pilgrim bears his crosses patiently.
Another thing to consider - pack lightly. Tourists might pack a lot of clothes in two or three suitcases.
Pilgrims must travel lightly – so you don’t get weighed down by a lot of excess baggage. Carrying excess baggage on a pilgrimage, like carrying a lot of excess baggage through life, can make the journey onerous and joyless. So, it’s best to get rid of any excess baggage. And the excess baggage we all need to get rid of is the excess baggage of our sins. During your pilgrimage, make sure you get rid of excess baggage by going to confession. Lighten your load - and you will see how that will make the pilgrimage something that you will remember forever.
In the Gospel reading Jesus says: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…..For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
Jesus was speaking to farmers. They might have been simple folk, but they probably understood what he was saying better than we might – since we don’t know too much about farming. Jesus is not speaking of egg yolks. The yoke Jesus was talking about was a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.
Take my yoke upon you…. It would seem that Jesus is asking us to shoulder a heavy burden. Sometimes, we might think of our religion like that: a burden. After all, it “demands” that we go to Mass on Sundays; and there seems to be a lot of rules and regulations, starting with those 10 Commandments. So, to take Jesus’ yoke upon ourselves might seem to be something really hard.
The Scripture commentators remind us that those who listened to Jesus understood the image here. Farmers would yoke together a stronger, more experienced ox with a younger and inexperienced one – so that the stronger would teach the weaker. Jesus invites us to "yoke" ourselves to him for he understands the weakness of our fallen human nature. His yoke is lighter – not because he demands less of us but because he bears more of the load for us. In that sense, instead of thinking that being a Catholic Christian is a burden – as some would believe – let us see it as a gift. A gift that brings us joy even in adversity.
To yoke yourself to Jesus is not to burden you, for faith is a gift that allows us to find rest in the midst of a world in turmoil.
Jesus’ yoke is lighter – again, not because he demands less of us but because he bears more of the load for us. Yes, Jesus loves sinners – but not with a sentimental or saccharine kind of love that would enable denial; but with a love that is love in truth, a love that is stronger than sin. If love names the sin, it does so not to damn the sinner but to call the sinner to conversion of heart and mind. For the love that opened its arms on a cross of wood is love that believes that the sinner can be redeemed.
That is the hope that inspires, the hope that makes our pilgrimage – not just to Rome but our life pilgrimage to the Father’s house in heaven – an exciting adventure. Bon voyage!
