Last Sunday, our Gospel from the sixth chapter of Mark showed Jesus sending his disciples out two by two to bring his Good News to the world, giving them the authority to anoint the sick with oil and to cast out demons. One can imagine that this was a very intense, exciting, and sometimes frightening experience for the disciples. Today’s Gospel takes place later on in this same chapter of Mark after the disciples have returned. They share their stories with Jesus about what happened on their missionary journey. Even though Jesus knew that he and his disciples needed some time to rest and relax, that time of renewal didn’t come to fruition due to the tenacious crowds that followed him. But, rather than trying to flee again, Jesus feels compassion for the crowds that are looking for a shepherd to lead them, so he begins to teach them many things.
I think all of us have felt burned out or stressed out at one time or another. In fact, in our modern world, that seems to be the norm for some of us. That being the case, it is important for us to have times of renewal and retreat in our lives. We priests are required to spend at least a week each year on retreat or with spiritual exercise in order to renew both our bodies and our spirits. For me, going hiking and going on pilgrimage is what energizes my soul.
What strikes me about both today’s and last week’s Gospels is how Jesus and his disciples work as a team. Jesus is their leader, but he and his disciples work together in ministry and in their proclamation of God’s kingdom. Many people in our society today think that they don’t need a church or organized religion in their lives, that a one-on-one relationship with God is enough. But that’s not the message we get from Holy Scripture in general, and it’s not the message that we get from the Gospel readings these past two weeks.
In a lot of ways, we as Christians in modern America have been at a crossroads in the way we live out our faith for the last decade or so. That is even more the case this past year during the pandemic. I remember as a child how Christianity was given a lot of respect in our country, how priests, nuns, and ministers were some of the most revered people in society. Today, organized religion is under attack; there is no other way to describe it. Some of us wonder if we are going to enjoy the religious liberty to even practice our faith according to the laws and morality of the Church if these same attitudes continue to prevail in our society.
As I visit all of you in Newton and Paulding today for Mass, I am thankful for the opportunity to visit all of you and to celebrate Mass with all of you on a regular basis. It saddens me that you all are not able to have Mass even once a month on some occasions. With all of our schedules and with things that happen in our lives, it is not easy. There is going to be a pastor assigned to Forest and Morton and to your communities of Paulding and Newton. Hopefully, this will ameliorate the situation and provide a more constant presence of a priest in your parish. We are actually looking at all the situations in our Diocese in the parishes and the missions. Right now, some parishes are not able to get a priest to cover their weekly Masses. For some of us who travel for Diocesan obligations and who need to find a priest to cover for us, it is not always even, let alone when travel for vacation or time off.
In the past few weeks in our Sunday Gospels, we have heard stories of faith and we have heard of the disciples being sent out to bring the Gospel message to the world. No matter what our reality is on our journey of faith, may this Gospel message give us encouragement and inspiration.
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