The Return of the Twelve

February 06, 2021, Saturday
Memorial of Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs (Red)
CYCLE B - YEAR I
RDGS: HEB 13:15-17. 20-21/ PS 23:1-3. 3-4. 5. 6
GOSPEL: MK 6:30-34

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus
and reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
"Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while." 
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.
When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

GOSPEL REFLECTION:


Jesus cares about me and invites me too to come away and rest a while. I will be helped if I can go to a ‘deserted place’ occasionally to allow my soul to catch up. Otherwise, as T. S. Eliot says, I have the experience of God’s action in my life, but miss its meaning because I don’t give time to reflection.
I may be too busy or too poor ‘to get away from it all’. It can restore my frayed nerves and re-orient me to what really matters. I will never regret the time I give to this daily encounter with God.

PRAYER:

Lord, there are times when I want to get away from the crowds, when I feel oppressed by company. There are other times when I just wish that somebody knew that I exist; I can have too much of aloneness. If I can reach you in prayer, and know that you are more central to me than my own thoughts, I feel at peace, as the apostles must have felt.



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