Sharing others' yokes

It is Lent season and The Stations of the Cross is a good devotional chance to reflect on our life. In the last couple of years, I attended courses in the Catholic Biblical Institute and did not take part in this devotion. After finishing the diploma course, I returned to church last night to spend some quality time with Christ.
The second station is called Jesus took up the cross. In this particular station, we reflect on the scene where Jesus took up the cross he was condemned. He took it up voluntarily. All the sins, past and the future, are loaded on this cross. Jesus willingly took it up. In fact, he was unloading our burden, our bondage.
If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday (Isaiah 58:9b-10).
Jesus did it. He shared and took away our yokes. All the pointing of fingers fell on him. All curses and all wicked speaking were directed against him. He fed 5000 hungry souls and healed the sick. His light shines forth throughout centuries. Jesus is our light and our life.
What have we done? Instead of bearing our own crosses, we shift our blames and burdens onto others. When our crosses are unshakable and nobody notices them, they weigh even heavier.
Times and again, we do evils with good intentions. Alas! The road to hell is paved with good intentions! Blinded with good intentions, we are not even aware of the evils we are doing. How shall we deal with this? We seek God's guidance.
And the LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your desire with good things, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters fail not (Isaiah 58:11).
In order to receive God's guidance, we must turn back to God and follow His instructions.
First of all, do our share and when there is still spare strength in us, remove the burden from others. Perhaps working together with others, all our burdens will become lighter. We may even take it up as our mission to lighten the burden of others. Be ready always to extend a helping hand even when our hands are full. Let go our yoke. Christ is there to take it up for us.
Honestly accept our share of blames. When fingers are pointing our way, the first natural reaction is to deny. Wait. Face it squarely. We may have forgotten something. Search our conscience. Locate the fault and admit it bravely and candidly. Otherwise, the problem will never be solved. When the problem stays, we will rot from within.
Speak edifying words. This is an absolute duty for a teacher like me. Alas! How often we get carried away in our own speeches without caring how damaging they can be. Not only do these careless speeches hinder the healthy growth of our youngsters, these wicked words may also demoralize them and bring down the whole education enterprise.
Now is a time of almsgiving. It is Lent. Now is a time of financial crisis and austerity. It is Lent. We have enjoyed a long time of economic bloom. Now is a time of simple and even tight living. It is Lent. When hard time strikes, the poor and needy suffer worse. Therefore it is appropriate to feed the hungry and heal the sick. It is Lent. How can our hearts bear the sight of hungry skinny children when our belly is full? Isn't it Lent now? Though luckily we see none of these here in Hong Kong, have we not seen old ladies searching the rubbish bins for discarded aluminum cans? It is Lent.

Dear Lord, You offer us a season of Lent to streamline our life. May the meagre good work we do lighten the yoke of our brethren. Guide our ways. Amen.