Last Sunday, our Gospel reading was from the 6th chapter of Mark, about how Jesus sent his disciples to bring his Good News to the world, giving them authority to anoint the sick with oil and to cast out demons. We can imagine that this was a very intense, tiring experience for the disciples. In today’s Gospel, the disciples have returned from their journey, giving Jesus a report about what happened. We can imagine how they felt. After any of us has gone on an adventure or a long trip, we have a lot of stories to share with our family and friends. Jesus must have sensed that the disciples were worn out and that they needed to get away to a faraway place in order to rest and renew, so he takes them to a deserted place. But peace and quiet are elusive.The crowds rush ahead of them to meet them there. Jesus and his disciples attract a great deal of attention, yet they need a break in order to continue with their work.
I think all of us have felt burned out at one time or another, so 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 our bodies and our spirits. For me, going hiking and going on pilgrimage are what energize my soul. Late in August, I am hoping to spend some time of retreat visiting some of the California missions when I am back in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles for two mission appeals.
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, that is for sure, but they work together in ministry and in proclaiming 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 is not the message we receive from Holy Scripture in general, and it is not the message that we have received from the Gospels these past two weeks. I have mentioned that I want to use the theme of the Eucharistic renewal in our country here in our parishes of Holy Savior and Immaculate Conception for this school year. Our US Bishops and our Diocese are emphasizing that theme as well. There are a lot of resources out there regarding that theme and there is a lot upon which can reflect. United together as individuals and as a parish, it is important that we not only reflect upon this theme, but that we put it into action.
In a lot of ways, we Christians in modern America are at a crossroads in the way we live out our faith. 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 in so many ways. 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.
Jesus and his disciples lived out their faith with great zeal and boldness. We too are to be on fire for the faith. And we should do so in creative ways. Having grown up Protestant, I can say that in comparison to many of our Protestant brothers and sisters, we Catholic can be timid and even ashamed of sharing our faith with others. I look to the saints as people who lived out their faith in creative ways. When I was up at University of Notre Dame recently, one of my professors, Dr Tim O’Malley, state that if the Eucharistic renewal and our evangelization efforts are going to be successful, they will need to start organically in the parishes and on the local level. He mentioned how St Francis of Assisi was not assigned by his Diocese or by the Vatican to minister to the lepers in his town or to start a new religious order. St Francis felt God’s call to do this. He felt the need to do this in the reality of his local community. On Thursday of this week, July 25, we celebrate the feast of St James. James sowed the seeds of the Christian faith in Spain as a missionary. And even though he did not see a lot of success in his own day, those seeds of faith later bore so much fruit is Spain, in the rich Catholic faith and the many saints who were born there. And the pilgrimage to St James on the Camino in Spain, which began 1,200 year ago, still attracts countless pilgrims each year and is growing in popularity. Like the saints I just mentioned, we also can be bold in living out our faith and proclaiming the kingdom of God in different ways. We all need to discern the way God is calling us to do so.
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