July 22, 2018: 16th Sunday B
July 22, 2018 16th Sunday B
Have you ever said to yourself, “I need a vacation from vacation”? When my sister and brother-in-law take their three children (who are all under the age of 13) on a vacation, they seem more exhausted after the vacation than they did before they were left. Immediately after their return from the trip, my sister and brother-in-law can’t just plop down on their couch and sleep for the next twelve hours. My sister has to go grocery shopping, cook supper, and launder all the clothes; my brother-in-law has to retrieve their two dogs from the dog-sitter, mow the grass, pay bills, and respond to hundreds of emails from work which piled up while he was away. Such is the life of modern-day parents; such is the life of modern-day disciples of Jesus. There is no rest for the weary.
When the disciples of Jesus returned from their lengthy apostolic mission, they were hoping to share their stories of conversion and miracles with Jesus and with each other. Jesus saw how his disciples were tired and were in need of rest and fellowship, so he took them by a boat to a secluded place. But people in the area were thirsty and hungry for more; they wanted to hear more of how God loved them and experience God’s healing. So they tracked down the boat the disciples were on and waited where they would disembark. When Jesus saw the sight of a crowd of desperate people, his heart was moved with compassion. He saw in them the thirst and hunger for God; they needed to be fed, guided, and renewed. Instead of pushing them away and insisting on rest for his disciples, Jesus takes pity on the large crowd and begins to teach. Jesus shows us how a leader should be--although tired and weary, he was not perturbed by interruption because his heart was moved with compassion. How do we respond when our children, family, or friend interrupt our rest? Do we grumble, snap back, or turn them away? Or do we immediately attend to their needs?
Perhaps we are like those thirsty and hungry people, gathering every Sunday at church to be nourished and guided by the Good Shepherd from Scriptures and Eucharist. As we enter this holy ground, Our Lord knows us through and through, like a shepherd knows his sheep. He knows we are weary, thirsty, and hungry from the work and from relationships. He knows our cluttered lives--so many things to do, so many activities, so many responsibilities. Sometimes, it is our own doing that our lives are so cluttered with useless activities, pursuing after things we don’t need, and ignoring our responsibilities to love and forgive one another. Perhaps we lost our focus and our goal by taking our eyes off of the Good Shepherd who invites us daily to spend time with him in prayer. There is no substitute for quality one-on-one time with a friend than sitting down, looking into the eyes of one another to talk. Prayer is like that —intentional, distraction free, heart-to-heart talk with our friend and our Lord Jesus.
Our challenge is how to sit still when we have so many distractions. Did you know that there is now a condition called, “digital dementia”? It’s a condition in which a person who relies heavily on technology like smartphones suffers a deterioration in cognitive abilities such as short term memory dysfunction. With smartphones and smart watches invading our every free moment including meal times, gathering with friends, meetings, and even during church, we are fatigued and frazzled from the urge to check the messages, updates, and posts every time our smartphone dings and rings. I’ve even seen people taking pictures and uploading them to social media during their family member’s funeral. I’ve seen children and young people addicted to the screens, isolated and oblivious to what was going on around them. Technology was supposed to help us be more efficient and thus allow us more time for us to be present to our family. Has it? The ability to email, text and post on social media was supposed to help us communicate better, but how often do you find that a simple phone call would have been better than written words where the meanings and context were misunderstood? It seems that the advancements intended by technology have been overshadowed by the effects of abuse and misuse. The statics show that teens and young adults are more lonely and isolated now than ever before as their use of smartphones and social media have increased. The studies have shown that the increase in the suicide rate for that same age group is not unrelated to this overuse of technology.
What are we to do? Are we to seclude ourselves away from people in a monastery or as they say, take ourselves “off-the-grid” from civilization? Pope Francis advises us in this way, “It is not healthy to love silence while fleeing interaction with others, to want peace and quiet while avoiding activity, to seek prayer while disdaining service. Everything can be accepted and integrated into our life in this world, and become a part of our path to holiness. We are called to be contemplatives even in the midst of action, and to grow in holiness by responsibly and generously carrying out our proper mission.”
Let us listen to Pope Francis and strive for balance between interior life and communion with persons while being open to interruptions and using our technology prudently. When we are interrupted, we need to attend to the need of the person by trying to understand what they are expressing rather than formulating a reply while they are speaking. I’m amazed at how many times that an “interruption” turns out to be a blessing in disguise. For every encounter we have--whether it was planned or by chance--may we strive to emulate the Lord and serve with gladness of heart.
When the disciples of Jesus returned from their lengthy apostolic mission, they were hoping to share their stories of conversion and miracles with Jesus and with each other. Jesus saw how his disciples were tired and were in need of rest and fellowship, so he took them by a boat to a secluded place. But people in the area were thirsty and hungry for more; they wanted to hear more of how God loved them and experience God’s healing. So they tracked down the boat the disciples were on and waited where they would disembark. When Jesus saw the sight of a crowd of desperate people, his heart was moved with compassion. He saw in them the thirst and hunger for God; they needed to be fed, guided, and renewed. Instead of pushing them away and insisting on rest for his disciples, Jesus takes pity on the large crowd and begins to teach. Jesus shows us how a leader should be--although tired and weary, he was not perturbed by interruption because his heart was moved with compassion. How do we respond when our children, family, or friend interrupt our rest? Do we grumble, snap back, or turn them away? Or do we immediately attend to their needs?
Our challenge is how to sit still when we have so many distractions. Did you know that there is now a condition called, “digital dementia”? It’s a condition in which a person who relies heavily on technology like smartphones suffers a deterioration in cognitive abilities such as short term memory dysfunction. With smartphones and smart watches invading our every free moment including meal times, gathering with friends, meetings, and even during church, we are fatigued and frazzled from the urge to check the messages, updates, and posts every time our smartphone dings and rings. I’ve even seen people taking pictures and uploading them to social media during their family member’s funeral. I’ve seen children and young people addicted to the screens, isolated and oblivious to what was going on around them. Technology was supposed to help us be more efficient and thus allow us more time for us to be present to our family. Has it? The ability to email, text and post on social media was supposed to help us communicate better, but how often do you find that a simple phone call would have been better than written words where the meanings and context were misunderstood? It seems that the advancements intended by technology have been overshadowed by the effects of abuse and misuse. The statics show that teens and young adults are more lonely and isolated now than ever before as their use of smartphones and social media have increased. The studies have shown that the increase in the suicide rate for that same age group is not unrelated to this overuse of technology.
Let us listen to Pope Francis and strive for balance between interior life and communion with persons while being open to interruptions and using our technology prudently. When we are interrupted, we need to attend to the need of the person by trying to understand what they are expressing rather than formulating a reply while they are speaking. I’m amazed at how many times that an “interruption” turns out to be a blessing in disguise. For every encounter we have--whether it was planned or by chance--may we strive to emulate the Lord and serve with gladness of heart.
