SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR "B"

 

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY OF YEAR (Cycle “B”)

 Mark 6, 30-34

When the twelve apostles returned from their mission, Jesus, seeing that they needed rest and refreshment, invited them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest while” (Mk. 6,31). He saw their exhaustion and their need to remove themselves from the busyness and heavy demands of their work. He also saw that they needed to sit at his feet and be spiritually nourished by his words and teaching. “The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6,63).

My dear friends, Jesus believed in the dictum that unless you come apart and rest awhile, you may just come apart!  It is instructive to know that even the Nazarene took a few days off now and then; pretty rare with him, though, I should think.

 

Speaking about ourselves. We may have become familiar with the idea of setting aside a little time each day to be alone with Jesus in prayer and Bible reading so that he may refresh and nourish us. We are perhaps less familiar with the idea of going on retreat for three to five days just to be away with Jesus. It is essential if we are to become contemplative. Contemplation cannot be switched on without preparation and practice. We need to develop the habit of contemplative rest if we are to witness against this mad rush to succeed and make money. Someone has said that Judas Iscariot left the Last Supper table because he was too busy to stay.

It is a great grace to spend an extended period of time with the Lord.  In India alone you are offered a large number of retreat centres where you can be alone with the Lord. Many of you have found making a retreat a very enlivening and refreshing experience. The Lord always delights in inviting us to be alone with him, enjoying his presence and being renewed and refreshed by him.

But let’s go back to today’s Gospel. Jesus had hardly settled down with his tired and sore-footed apostles when their leisure is totally disrupted by the arrival of the people. St. Mark tells us that they “hurried” to the spot where Jesus was headed. As bad as Calcutta, there seemed to be no quiet place in Palestine. We can compute from clues given that the people jogged 14 kms to get to his hoped-for hideout. Not allowing his apostles to be disturbed, Jesus faced the crowd alone. Did he go ballistic and blow them away?  No, he was moved to pity. That’s the translation in English for the much profound Greek ”splanknezien”  -  a sort of visceral or gut movement of compassion, like when you see a little child being crushed under the wheels of a speeding truck.

The point I want to make about Jesus is that he had endeared himself to the people, and he was so accessible. Even the children swarmed all over him, much to the annoyance of Peter and Co. Psychologists say that children have special antenna to pick out the genuine and the fraud among us adults. The kids found Jesus genuine.  Then there was that fat cat named Zacheus of Jericho. He ruined his best Sunday suit climbing a sycamore tree to have a better look at the Teacher. Then he came down, gave him a dinner and declared, “I shall give half my belongings to the poor.” Jesus had not asked for a shekel, equivalent of 50 paise.

How about the effect on the police? St. John tells the story.  The Temple bosses sent the police to pick up Jesus. They came back empty-handed, not because they were bribed, since Jesus was penniless, but because, as they explained, “Nobody has ever spoken the way that this man does” (John 7,46).

My dear friends, I submit, the most hardnosed among us must agree that Jesus was an “endearing” person. To know him is a reward; and to be his friend an end in itself. So, why miss out on knowing him more intimately?  Leave your worldly concerns, take a short break everyday, and leave all the talking to him.

 

 

PRAYER: (from “Prayers of an Irish Mother”)

Alone with God

Lord, I have shut my door,

Shut out life’s busy cares and fretting noise;

Here in this silence they intrude no more.

Speak Lord, and heavenly joys

Shall fill my heart with music sweet and calm.

A holy psalm.

Yes, I have shut my door

On earthly passion, all its yearning love,

Its tender friendships, all the priceless store

Of human ties.  Above

All these my heart aspires, O Heart divine

Stoop Lord to mine.

Lord, I have shut my door!

Come Lord and visit me, I am alone!

Come as when doors were shut, you

Came of yore.

And visited your own.

My Lord, I kneel with reverent love

And fear.

For you are here.