God conquers division through intimate embrace – Mark 6:30-34, Eph 2:13-18

OT 16, Yr C; Sacred Heart parish.

Do you ever wonder how the apostles felt?  They’d just come back from their first mission experience without Jesus by their side.  It’d been hard, maybe harder than anything they’d ever known; Jesus has sent them out without provisions, without anything to keep them warm at night if they couldn’t find someone to take them in, shabbily dressed, totally dependent on those they went to serve.  And he’d warned them: they would encounter rejection, being ignored, being turned out of town.  And I’m sure they did.  But we don’t actually read about any of that in Mark’s gospel; he just gives us a short summary of their performance “they preached repentance, drove out many demons, anointed many sick with oil and cured them.”  It had gone great.  They must be coming back at once energized and exuberant with joy at their success, and at the same time completely exhausted.  And emotionally… they’ve probably missed Jesus.  So, when he invites them to come away with him, just the 13 of them, for an intimate time of rest and refreshment… that must be a dream come true!  It’s the two key moments of discipleship back to back: doing the work of Jesus, and enjoying the friendship of Jesus, just wasting time with him.

God heals through our dependency – Mark 6:7-13, Eph 1:3-10, Amos 7:12-17

Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time; Holy Cross parish.

As a Brit living in America, I always find celebrating Independence Day a little odd.  Now, I like burgers and fireworks, so I quickly get over any feelings of oddness and just enjoy myself, but I’ve often wondered what it might look like if a civil celebration of political Independence was somehow paired with a more religious celebration of Dependence: an interior attitude of dependence on God, that’s expressed and formed by actions which make clear to ourselves and to others our total dependence on God’s creation, and the humans who crown that creation.  By Providence, that’s precisely what our gospel today encourages us to do.

God reaches out to us in the mundane – Mark 6:1-6a, 2 Cor 12:7-10, Ezek 2:2-5

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time; St. Adalbert's, South Bend.  (one English Mass; one Spanish).

Jesus was amazed.  Jesus didn’t get amazed all that much, at least not in the scriptural texts we have, and when he did, it was generally being pleasantly amazed at someone’s faith. But here, he’s amazed and the emotions that go along with that might be saddened, mournful, lost, dismayed.  He’d come home, to the place he was most familiar with, the place he might expected comfort, even might look forward to an enthusiastic welcome; but he finds a lack of faith, a dishonor that amazes him, shocks him.