The 16th Sunday of the Year
Jer 23:1-6; Eph 2:13-18; Mk 6:30-34 (Year B)
"The Apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while.’ ”
Careful scrutiny of the Gospels reveals a frequently overlooked balance between mission and prayer, work and rest. In today’s Gospel we can readily imagine the excitement with which the Apostles reported to Jesus all that had been achieved on their first missionary journey. His immediate response to all this activity was to call his Apostles to “some lonely place”. There they would rest in his presence, the only true focus and foundation for all that they were to achieve.
