Come and Rest a While

As we continue our journey through the Sundays of Ordinary Time, we have been focusing heavily on the issue of faith.  Over the past several weeks we have heard our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, chastise the Apostles for their lack of faith in the boat.  We have heard Him tell the woman with the hemorrhage that it was her faith that healed her, and in last week’s Gospel we heard Jesus exclaim that He was amazed at the lack of faith of those who should have known Him the best.

It is with this background that we encounter the Gospel reading for this past Sunday taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, chapter 6, when the disciples returned from their being sent out by Jesus to preach repentance and to heal and drive out unclean spirits.  The Gospel tells us: “The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told Him all what they had done and taught.  He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’  For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.”  (Mark 6:30-31)

While we may pass over this statement and get to what we might consider the heart of this passage, the part where Jesus begins to teach the crowd because there was a vast number of people and they were like “sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34b) we really must spend a bit of time considering these words, especially as during this recent pandemic, many of us have spent some time away from our Lord because of various lockdowns and concern over the virus.

The eating of a meal together within the culture of our Lord Jesus Christ was a very important part of daily living, and it was so very much more than just an opportunity to grab a bite to eat when you are hungry.  We really do not consider meals much like this anymore since oftentimes, even those who live within the same household don’t eat together.  Rather each person has many other important things to do and they just grab something to sustain themselves either from their own refrigerator as they are leaving the house to go to some important event or grabbing a quick fast-food meal on the way.  Eating together has become somewhat of a luxury and, for many families, it is only done maybe on Sunday for dinner and for larger families only at special occasions like holidays.  Within our own culture, we now have so many other ways to remain connected with cell phones and a large number of different social media we can always know what our friends and family are doing, even if we can’t come together for a meal.

This was not the case for Jesus and His followers.  They needed some time alone to get reconnected after the Apostles were out on this mission journey to preach, teach and heal.  It is for this reason that Jesus told them to “come away to a deserted place to share a meal with Him.”  Several aspects of this phrase are important and would be easily recognized by anyone from the culture of our Lord.  Each of them is important for us as well even though they are not as readily apparent.

First the followers of Jesus are asked to “come away.”  This is something I would imagine that many of us can understand.  Our lives have become so busy that we each would love a little time away from all the demands and responsibilities we each have.  Even in the time of the recent pandemic, families were spending extra time in helping children with schoolwork at home, and I too can say that my workload of meetings did not diminish, but rather increased.  While video conferencing has certainly been a blessing during this pandemic allowing the Church to continue its work, it has also allowed me to have several meetings in one day without any time to spend moments of genuine connection with other people during them.  It also challenges us to make sure that prayer is a part of each of these meetings as it is sometimes so easy to just want to get to the heart of the issues or problems without first seeking to call upon the Lord for His guidance and help.

Because of this we each need some time to “come away” to be with our Lord.  Among other things, for us as Catholic Christians, this should mean some time to gather for Holy Eucharist where we can spend some time in quiet prayer, connect with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament reposed upon our altars and ultimately receive Him in Holy Communion.

During the pandemic when our church attendance was restricted and while many of us were concerned about our health and safety, we might have taken a step back from these things.  But now that vaccines are available, now that we understand the virus better and now that we can protect ourselves, it is time for us to once again “come away” from our daily lives to spend a little time with the Lord at church.

Secondly Jesus calls them to a “deserted place.”  In our lives today we might ask the question, why would I want to go to a place like that?  Well, this is really a bit of code for those in the know in Jesus’ day.  A “deserted place” is a place where one can go and encounter God.  To this end we know that John the Baptist preached in the wilderness, that Jesus went into the desert after His baptism and often He went away by Himself to spend time in prayer and encounter God the Father.  Jesus is calling His followers to a place where they can spend time with each other and more importantly with Almighty God.  The Apostles had been busy doing the work of God in preaching repentance, in dispelling unclean spirits and in healing.  And though all of this is the work of God, they also needed to be connected to the source of all this work, God Himself.

This is true for us today as well.  Hopefully within our daily lives we also find time to continue to do the work of God that is all around us.  We encourage each other in our good works and in our virtuous lives.  We help each other along through acts of mercy and loving kindness.  But we must remember that we also need to be connected to the source of this good Christian life and that is God Himself.  For us that “desert place” where we connect with Almighty God is our parish church.  That is the place where we can put aside the worries and demands of our very busy lives, for just a few moments, and connect with God: God the Father, Who created us in love; God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who showed us such great love in going to the Cross and leading us in the way of Resurrection; God the Holy Spirit, Who continues to sanctify us and strengthen us in our pilgrimage of life.  It is within our parish church that we worship Almighty God and receive Him in the Holy Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This brings us to the last part of this call from our Lord, to share a meal with Him.  Now for us Catholic Christians, we know that He calls us to no ordinary meal.  He calls us to gather at the altar, the table of the Lord, to share the heavenly meal of the Holy Eucharist.  We receive there the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and become one with Him in this Sacred Banquet.

My brothers and sisters, during this past time of pandemic, many of us have lost sight of the importance of coming away to a deserted place to share a meal with the Lord.  We have lost the importance of gathering within our parish churches to worship God and receive Him in Holy Communion.  In the weeks and months to come, as we continue to put this pandemic behind us and return to our full daily lives, take seriously the call of our Lord given to us in the Gospel to “come away to a deserted place,” take seriously the call to “share a meal with Him.” 

Make sure that as we return to full life we often “come away to a special place to share a meal with Jesus and His followers.”  Come to church to worship God, receive Him in Holy Communion and connect with Jesus sharing a Christian Catholic life with the Body of Christ, His Church.