July 22, 2012: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
Most of us look forward to weekends, but how many of us are busier on weekends than on weekdays? If someone were to ask you this weekend, "Come away by yourself to a deserted place and rest awhile," would you say, “yes”? I asked a friend if he would be able to say yes, and his response was, ‘is there a 55-inch television and a Walmart?’ Sometimes our lives are so demanding and spread so thin that we barely have time to sit down and have a meal. At the rectory, Deacon Joe takes his time carefully slicing his food to cook it in a skillet. Meanwhile, I whip into the kitchen and put veggies and fruits in a blender and drink my breakfast, lunch, and dinner in less than 5 minutes. I’m guilty of not taking time to sit down and savor the food I drink.
In the Gospel today, Jesus asks his busy disciples to come away by themselves to a deserted place and rest awhile. I find this an interesting request. When I was working as an engineer, working past the normal 40-hour workweek was seen as a virtue. You would think that God would appreciate us more if we used all hours of the week to do His work, but that’s not how Jesus wants it. He wants us to be at a place, even if it is our own home, to withdraw from the world to enjoy special intimacy with Him. There, Jesus desires to give us rest.
To be sure, the rhythm of our life dedicated to work, family, church, and community ought to alternate between periods of intense labor and periods of simply being with Jesus. We can imagine that at the time when Jesus was forming his disciples, he took time with each disciple to listen to the reports of their successes and failures, to encourage, counsel, and redirect them where necessary. The temptation for all of us is to get so caught up in the busyness of our lives that we repeatedly ignore the need for prayer, rest, and stillness in God’s presence. When that happens, it is all too easy to begin imperceptibly substituting our own agenda for Our Lord’s. We know that apart from Him we can do nothing. We cannot carry out the Lord’s work except in His strength, and we cannot be renewed in that strength except by waiting in His presence.
Mother Teresa explains Jesus’ instruction to us in this way.
We cannot put ourselves directly in the presence of God if we do not practice internal and external silence. In silence we will find new energy and true unity. Silence gives us a new outlook on everything. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us and through us. In that silence, He will listen to us; there He will speak to our soul, and there we will hear His voice. Listen in silence because if your heart is full of other things you cannot hear the voice of God. But when you have listened to the voice of God in the stillness of your heart, then your heart is filled with God.
When I visit Mother Teresa sisters at their convent at St. Agnes Church in Baton Rouge, I notice that they spend one hour in the morning for prayer, one hour in the evening for prayer, as well as praying the rosary all throughout their day. Seeing how much they pray, I feel guilty for not spending enough time away being with Jesus. I walk in the morning while praying the Rosary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and Morning Prayer, but I do not spend enough time during the day just simply sitting and listening for Jesus’ encouragements and desires for me. I wish that just like the people in the Gospel who hastened on foot from all the towns to follow Jesus wherever he traveled, I would have that same desire to be with Jesus especially at times when I offer excuses that I’m too busy for Him. Perhaps we should all long for that desire.
