A Leader of Rest The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021

                                                           A Leader of Rest

The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2021

July 18, 2021

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Ezekiel 2:2-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6

 

Jeremiah reminds us that not all our leaders and shepherds have our best interests at heart. While people give leaders mandates to make good decisions for the community, we know that power pulls them away from their intended purposes. It is understandable that power carries them into unintended areas, but in the church world, it can lead to attitudes of entitlement, clericalism, and superiority. Jesus makes it clear that this is not the style of leadership of one of his disciples.

 

In the Gospel, Jesus offers people rest from their labors, so they can practice self-care and receive gratitude from Jesus and his friends. I need rest. I think we all need rest, especially after the tumultuous past year we experienced, but it is a quality rest that we need – rest from unexpected bad news, rest from constant updating of news, rest from incessant barrages of people expressing their opinions, rest from unending work that has crept into one’s personal time, and rest from expectations to return a text message at any hour of the day. We need rest from always being “on,” and even our Sabbath day has lost our time to rest with our loved ones.

 

If you are like me, you fear taking much time off because when you return, you have piles of work to plow through that you become more tired than you were before your time away. Sometimes the rhythm and routine of everyday life is more manageable than taking time off. However, we need our precious time off, and we have to build it into our day no matter what. We have to remember that the one who calls us into this downtime wants to spend time with us, and we cannot grow in friendship with Jesus unless we waste time with him. We just need to be around him and in his presence. He is the only one who can restore us.

 

Jesus himself needed rest he could not get. Each time he tried to get away, the crowds kept coming, and he took pity on them. He wants us to come to him, with or without our worries just so he can relax with us, hang out, and just get the rest we both need. He isn’t asking us to do anything or say anything, just to come and sit for a while. Our spending time together is prayer itself, and that is enough for us and for him.

 

Jesus gives us a model for leadership as one who wants to spend time with us. We know our earthly leaders are like Jesus when they take the time to be with us – with no expectations – just to be with us and get to know us. We will know that they understand and live out the mission of Jesus, and we will get our deserved rest. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

 

Monday: (Exodus 14) When it was reported to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about them. They exclaimed, “What have we done! Why, we have released Israel from our service!”

Tuesday: (Exodus 14) Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD swept the sea with a strong east wind throughout the night and so turned it into dry land.

 

Wednesday: (Exodus 16) Here in the desert the whole assembly of the children of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The children of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died at the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our fleshpots and ate our fill of bread!

 

Thursday: (Song of Songs 3) The Bride says: On my bed at night I sought him
whom my heart loves–I sought him but I did not find him. I will rise then and go about the city; in the streets and crossings I will seek Him whom my heart loves.

 

Friday (Exodus 20) I, the LORD, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. You shall not have other gods besides me. You shall not carve idols for yourselves in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth

 

Saturday (Exodus 24) When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the LORD has told us.”

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 12) Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah.

 

Tuesday: (Matthew 12) While Jesus was speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”

 

Wednesday (Matthew 13) A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil.

 

Thursday (John 20) On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.

 

Friday (Matthew 13) Hear the parable of the sower. The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the Kingdom without understanding it, and the Evil One comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. 

 

Saturday (Matthew 13) The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

 

 

Saints of the Week

 

July 20: Apollinaris, bishop and martyr (1st century) was chosen directly by Peter to take care of souls in Ravenna. He lived through the two emperors whose administrations exiled and tortured him, though he was faithful to his evangelizing work to his death.

 

July 21: Lawrence of Brindisi, priest and doctor (1559-1619) was a Capuchin Franciscan who was proficient in many languages and well-versed in the Bible. He was selected by the pope to work for the conversion of the Jews and to fight the spread of Protestantism. He held many positions in the top administration of the Franciscans.

 

July 22: Mary Magdalene, apostle (1st century), became the "apostle to the apostles" as the first witness of the resurrection. Scriptures point to her great love of Jesus and she stood by him at the cross and brought spices to anoint his body after death. We know little about Mary though tradition conflates her with other biblical woman. Luke portrays her as a woman exorcised of seven demons. 

 

July 23: Bridget of Sweden, religious (1303-1373), founded the Bridgettine Order for men and women in 1370, though today only the women’s portion has survived. She desired to live in a lifestyle defined by prayer and penance. Her husband of 28 years died after producing eight children with Bridget. She then moved to Rome to begin the new order.

July 24: Sharbel Makhuf, priest (1828-1898), joined a monastery in the Maronite tradition and lived as a hermit for 23 years after living fifteen years in the community. He became known for his wisdom and devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• July 19, 1767. At Naples, Prime Minister Tannic, deprived the Jesuits of the spiritual care of the prisoners, a ministry that they had nobly discharged for 158 years. 
• July 20, 1944. An abortive plot against Adolf Hitler by Claus von Stauffenberg and his allies resulted in the arrest of Fr. Alfred Delp. 
• July 21, 1773. In the Quirinal Palace, Rome, Clement XIV signed the Brief for the suppression of the Society. 
• July 22, 1679. The martyrdom at Cardiff, Wales, of St Phillip Evans. 
• July 23, 1553. At Palermo, the parish priests expressed to Fr. Paul Achilles, rector of the college, indignation that more than 400 persons had received Holy Communion in the Society's church, rather than in their parish churches. 
• July 24, 1805. In Maryland, Fr. Robert Molyneux was appointed the first superior by Father General Gruber.