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

Expanding Jesus' Family

July 16, Memorial of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel

Readings for the Memorial:

    First Reading:              Zechariah 2:14-17

    Responsorial Psalm:   Luke 1:46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55

    Gospel:                        Matthew 12:46-50

Word count: 250

Reading speed:    

    Slow (100 wpm): 2.5 minutes
    Average (130 wpm): 1.9 minutes
    Fast (160 wpm): 1.6 minutes

In our Gospel today, Jesus reveals to us the inner significance and meaning of the motherhood of Mary - and through that relationship, He includes all of us to the “family circle” of God.

"Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" Stretching out hand to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Through these comments said in response to the crowd, Jesus was not belittling His relationship with His mother; rather, He was giving it a deeper meaning of her motherhood and expanding it.

This for me is a strong foundation of the understanding of the Theotokos, that Mary is the Mother of God in Spirit and in Truth. Her being the earthy mother of Jesus is in obedience to the will of God.  She did God’s will and so she became the mother of the Son of God.

It was through this kind of motherhood of Mary that  Jesus expanded His family to all of us, that we too can be members of His Divine family.  He said, “whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

When we do the will of God, we bind ourselves into an eternal relationship with the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We actually become members of the "family" of God; we become "mother" "sister" and "brother" to the Lord. 

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: pixabay.com

How Mercy Should Prevail Over the Law

Friday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Year I
July 16, 2021

Readings for the Day
    First Resding: Ex 11:10—12:14
    Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 116:12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18
    Gospel: Mt 12:1-8

Word Count: 264
Reading Speed

    Slow (100 wpm): 2.5 minutes
    Average (130 wpm): 1.9 minutes
    Fast (160wpm): 1.6 minutes

Violation of the Sabbath Law is a major recurring accusation of the Pharisees against Jesus and His disciples. Here again, the action of Jesus’ disciples of picking heads of grain was considered by the Pharisees as harvesting, an agricultural work forbidden on the Sabbath. Clearly, their reasoning was unsound and fallacious, bloating a small issue and making it big and sensational. They closed their eyes lest they see and understand the need of the disciples for food. They gave more value to the order of things than to the order of persons.

Jesus rebutted that their accusation was false and unjust by citing what David did for himself and his companions, lawfully eating the holy bread intended only for priests. Ahimelech, the priest of Nob, gave this bread to David and his companions to eat because no other bread was available (1 Samuel 21:2-7). In saying this, Jesus showed the Pharisees how mercy should prevail over the law.

There are people today and, sadly, some clergy and religious who are so critical about little things, seeing them as grave violations. We can also be guilty of doing such to our own brothers in the Congregation, to our parishioners and to our lay collaborators, to people on the streets or slums trying to make a living, etc. We can be fast to judge and readily scold them or kick them out without hearing and understanding them with mercy and compassion.

For the second time around, Jesus taught the Pharisees and all of us to be merciful. He said it again, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

Fr. Joel R. Lasutaz, SSS

Image credit: flickr.com