Rest Day, A Day of Ministry

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

July 18, 2021

Readings for the Day

    First Reading:  Jer 23:1-6

    Responsorial Psalm:   Ps 23:1-3, 3-4, 5, 6

    Second Reading:   Eph 2:13-18

    Gospel:   Mk 6:30-34

Word Count: 458

    Slow (100 wpm): 4.6 minutes

    Average (130 wpm): 3.5 minutes

    Fast (160 wpm): 2.9 minutes

A Day Off is a vacation day free from work that would normally be a working day. But for us, our day off is not a day free from doing our mission. It may be a day of rest, but our Christian responsibilities should never rest. While it is a reality that we can get tired physically and mentally, our being a Christian shall not be given a rest day. Our spiritual obligations are always over and above our physical needs.

This is what Jesus taught us in our Gospel today. We see how zealous Jesus was to public ministry. St. Mark in his Gospel (Mark 3:20 and today’s gospel reading) told us twice that Jesus and His disciples did not even have time to eat. He was always ministering to people that took away time for Himself. As the gospel says, "People were coming and going in great numbers, and they had no opportunity even to eat." Jesus knew that rest was needed not just for Himself but for His disciples as well, especially now that they came back from the mission He sent them to do.  He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” 

At this point, Jesus teaches us to use common sense and to avoid going to such extremes that may render us physically unable to continue our mission. The Lord allows His disciples to rest in order to demonstrate to those in authority that individuals who work can not do it without taking a break from any kind of work.  

However, the Gospel continues that when they came to the place where Jesus brought His disciples to spend their day off, duty called again. We heard in the Gospel, "When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd…"  While Jesus was moved with pity for His disciples who needed a time for themselves to eat and to rest, He was even more moved with pity for those who needed the Word of God. And so the Gospel tells us "he began to teach them many things."  Their place of rest and relaxation has now become a place of work, of ministry. Here Jesus showed His disciples that for those who love Him, the needs of others outweigh one's needs.

 

Let us ask ourselves these questions:

 Am I ready to sacrifice my time and even my day off, my rest day in the service of the Gospel?

 Can I make myself available to serve God even during my day off?

 Can I change my plans whenever the good of others so requires?

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: pixabay.com