A Berber woman was walking along the road with an enormous basket on her head.
"Is it heavy, Majouba?"
"No," said she, without stopping. "Up there it does not weigh."
And that is true; one must possess his life by elevating it above self; the higher one raises it, the less it weighs.
There are three reasons that it weighs less: We escape more easily the perpetual care of looking at self, of analyzing self, actions which often paralyzed self; how many crush themselves by constant worry over whether or not they will be able to conquer a particular obstacle; to carry out a certain resolution; to fulfill a loved ideal? If there is an examination of self which is fruitful, there is also an introspection which abuses examen and often discourages the soul.
Another reason: The more we approach our life from the heights, the more attractive and the more interesting it becomes. We feel the necessity of hardening ourself, of holding the head erect, and the body steady. We are less likely to warp. Furthermore, in certain atmospheres we breathe better and the whole system gains in strength.
Finally a third reason: The more we raise our life above ourselves, the nearer our soul gets to God and the more God blesses it.
Sometimes we may be driven to say, in thinking of the occupations which load us down, of our vocation which palls, of temptations which attack us, of our declining health, "It is heavy!"
"I will make a courageous effort to lift the burden in both hands and, like the Berber woman, place it above my head. God will see this upraised gesture and will help me. Then, farther removed from the sight of the burden and consequently better able to carry it, I will be less crushed. Stabat, was said of Mary. I also will stand. The cross will no longer be before me but above me."
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Adapted from Meditations for Religious
by Father Raoul Plus, S.J. (© 1939, Frederick Pustet Co.)
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