He who takes up the yoke of service as one who is consecrated and set apart no longer retains the rights that other people have, such as enjoyment of bodily ease, indulgence in temporal pleasures, and submission to the delights of nature. The cow that has taken up the yoke and been assigned to the work of plowing and tillage can no longer produce milk like the rest of the cows, who live easily on the pasture with no duties except to eat and sleep. Its supply of milk drastically decreases as it bends
its knees to the work and develops the musculature to fit the needs of its particular service, and it Will never again calve.
In the same Way, when the human servant takes up his yoke, he will often murmur in the beginning at the deprivation of the natural rights he once enjoyed. But after a certain amount of time, his soul begins to detach from its dependency on them. Eventually, he rises completely above them, no lo11ger feeling deprived of anything at all. In fact, he gains a strong sense of blessing, divine help, and spiritual consolation that prove to be far better than anything he had in the World. The weight of the burden of
God’s service, when joined to faithfulness and patience, is sufficient to bring about mighty changes in the essential being, nature, and desires of the human person.
+Matthew the Poor, from If You Love Me: Serving Christ and the Church in Spirit and Truth, Chapter 6 The Edification of the Christian Servant, 9. Changes in the Servant's Character
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