Homily for 16^th Sunday in Ordinary time year B

Two of the many stresses I had on my training to the priesthood are writing essays and exams. Getting over those things are very stressful for me I felt that once I finished them, I could really felt a big burden was lifted up  from me. My friend and I used to celebrate the after-exam and after-essays moments- regardless of our marks– by going to the movies. I used to book the movie online to choose a good seat in the cinema. I remember one time, I was so excited when I booked the movie that I didn’t realize I booked in the cinema some 600 kilometres from where we were. I said to my friend: “I think, we’ve got a situation here. I’ve booked in Bathurst (NSW), when we were in Melbourne (VIC). I don’t think, we’ll get there on time for the movie.” I was just making light of the situation of course, after learning I have to wait for another couple of days for my booking to be refunded.

Another time, having not learned from my previous mistake, out of excitement once again, I booked for the movie in Adelaide, South Australia. Anyhow, we’ve sorted it out in the end and we still ended up going to the films. We really enjoyed those times, though the bookings at first gave me stress.

Friends, to get on with life, we need more than just doing many things, even good or even amazing things we do. We need to find ways to get out of our ‘busyness’. As a motivational writer Dr. Wayne Dyer would wisely say: ‘I am a human BEING, not a human DOING.’

Jesus in the gospel ( Mk 6:30-34) would recommend to his disciples more or less the same thing. After sending his disciples for a mission, they had come back, happy, excited and eager to report to him what they had done. Obviously they must have done a lot, amazing things perhaps, preaching, healing, being with the people. The people even loved them because, they were following them still as the gospel today suggests.

Jesus must have been very happy and even  ‘proud’ of them. Yet, he understood  that his disciples are not just human ‘doings’. They are also human ‘beings’. So, he urged them: ‘You must go away to a lonely place.’ In effect, he is saying to them: ‘Go, make a little retreat. Reflect on your lives. Put your mission into perspective. Reflect on who you are now, rather than just thinking on what you have done recently.’

Jesus also said to them: ‘Go by yourselves.’ This is an invitation to re-energize, to rest and to draw positive energy either on our own or with positive, like-minded people, with those people we are familiar and comfortable with- our friends. It’s amazing how much moments like these get the stresses out of ourselves.

I remember in one of those after-exam moments, I rang my friend, who was then assigned in a parish (Mount Gambier, some hundreds of kilometres away from Melbourne) for his pastoral placement, if he liked to go to the movies. Coincidentally, he had also some things to do in Melbourne the following day, so he obliged and drove all the way from Mount Gambier and we went to see Avatar. Though he was late, we still went to see the film an hour after it started. The attendant there said to us: ‘Sir, are you sure you still want to go in? The movie started an hour ago.’ My friend said: ‘Not a problem. It’s a three-hour movie anyway and besides, I drove all the way from Mount Gambier to be here.’ That was really a good way to relieve our stress.

The other thing Jesus would tell his disciples after their mission is to go and spend quality time with God in prayer, as he himself would always do. ‘Prayer may not be everything’, as the late Bishop Joe Grech would say, ‘but it is the first thing.’ In prayer, we can experience in a more real and personal way the hand of the Lord at work in us. Prayer assures us of the hand of the Lord, our Good Shepherd guiding us to the right path, the path that is restful, the path of peace and serenity, the path of life and love (cf Psalm 22/23).

It is always a challenge for us to spend some times with God, especially when we think we still got plenty of things to do or to attend to. But even when we go on a holiday, we also tend to give God a break by not taking an effort to attend mass or to pray.

Few weeks ago, a woman came to me and said: ‘Father, my family is going on a holiday in the outback Australia. I don’t know if there is Catholic Church or a mass available nearby. What could we do if we can’t find a Catholic Church there?’ I said to her: ‘If it is really impossible (note: impossible), to attend mass, just remember the time you usually attend mass here and use that time, half-an hour perhaps, to gather together as a family in prayer, as a spiritual communion with the parish.’

I am just  so inspired by this mother’s motive to  make sure God is part of their family holiday. It is very inspiring to see people really making an effort to spend time with God amidst busyness in life.

There is a poem about not giving time for God in worship or prayer and it is worth reflecting. We may have fallen into this few times before. The title is ‘No time to pray’

I knelt to pray but not for long,
I had too much to do.
I had to hurry and get to work
For bills would soon be due.

So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,
And jumped up off my knees.
My Christian duty was now done
My soul could rest at ease.

All day long I had no time
To spread a word of cheer.
No time to speak of Christ to friends,
They’d laugh at me I’d fear.

No time, no time, too much to do,
That was my constant cry,
No time to give to souls in need
But at last the time, the time to die.

I went before the Lord,
I came, I stood with downcast eyes.
For in his hands God held a book;
It was the book of life.

God looked into his book and said
“Your name I cannot find.
I once was going to write it down… 
But never found the time.”

(source: http://www.ellenbailey.com/poems/ellen_345.htm)

One reason not to pray, I sometimes hear from people is that God is  boring,  irrelevant, out of touch, deaf to our prayers, etc. Yes, it is indeed a challenge. Yet as my good friend said: ‘God is like a healthy food. You may not like it, because it is dull, boring, tasteless. But if you take it, it is good for you.’

Today, Jesus is inviting us to do less, and be more. For Jesus it is not about how much we have done, no matter how amazing they may be. Rather for him, it is how much love we put in what we do. We can only realize this, if we step back from the busyness of our lives, make a retreat and see where is God and where is the love in all that we do. Let us do this and our stress be lessened and our life becomes more worth-living. Amen.