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16 OT B ~ Mk. 6:30-34 "Rest a While" ~ Rev. Benjamin Roberts, D.Min.


I hear the words of Jesus, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while,” and I have three questions. When? Where? How? 


When can I find the time to set down the walking stick that Jesus told me to take up? Where can I rest my mind and rest my feet on holy ground when I am walking with the message of Jesus? How am I supposed to come away and rest when so many many things flood my mind, my heart, and my life? When? Where? How?


When? Now.

Where? Here.

How? Let me make a suggestion.


The Lord Jesus has gathered us together for the celebration of the Eucharist. We are gathered here together as disciples of the Lord. And here the Lord Jesus invites us to rest. We can think about the Sunday Eucharist as our weekly retreat with the Lord and with each other. We can think about the Sunday Eucharist as a break from the busyness and the craziness of the world outside. We can think about the Sunday Eucharist as the moment when Jesus says to you individually, to me individually, and to all of us together, “Please come and sit with me.” To have our weekly retreat, and to have our break from the busyness and the craziness of the world outside, and to sit with the Lord Jesus as if we were sharing a bench in the grotto, we prepare to rest. We get ready to rest. We take a moment to have a moment to sit with the Lord Jesus.


And to take a moment to have a moment to sit with the Lord Jesus, I suggest three asking three questions of yourself before Mass. What am I thankful for this week? What am I sorry for this week? Who or what am I praying for at this Mass?


I am thankful for this.

I am sorry for this.

I am praying for this.


When we answer these questions before we take our seat before the celebration of Mass, we are ready to rest with Jesus. I am thankful for this. I am sorry for this. I am praying for this. And every time we get distracted and every time the busyness and the craziness of the world outside invades our minds and tries to take away our moment of rest, we go back to those three answers. I am thankful for this. I am sorry for this. I am praying for this.


We answer three questions and we prepare to rest. We answer those three questions and we enter into the celebration of the Eucharist. We answer those three questions every time we hear, “Let us pray.” We answer those three questions every time the baby cries and every time we hear the rustle of the pages of four hundred bulletins. We answer those three questions when the prayer or the homily is not in our preferred language. We answer those three questions and we are resting with Jesus at the Eucharist.


What am I thankful for this week? What am I sorry for this week? Who or what am I praying for at this Mass? Here and now, we are ready to rest with Jesus.

Amen

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