Don Bosco Philippines South Province

Homily on the 16th Sunday in OT, 21 July 2024, Maryville Subd., Talamban

A few days ago, as I was preparing for a talk on Liturgical Setting and Environment, I happened to pull out from my shelf a magazine that looked like a coffee table book. Its cover page and title triggered my curiosity “BluPrint: Sacred Spaces” (The Design Sourcebook). And so I ran my fingers through the pages and saw pictures of some of the most amazing church architectures found here in our country. Among those featured were the Chapel of St. Padre Pio in Quezon City, the all-steel Basilica of San Sebastian in Manila, and the church of the Transfiguration Monastery in Malaybalay, Bukidnon, just to mention a few. The noble simplicity and stunning beauty of those churches especially their interior design astonished me. It made me imagine how good it would feel to be there in order to pray.

Then I suddenly remembered my own retreat two weeks ago together with my brother Salesians in Lawaan. Looking back at it, I feel so blessed to have had so much time to pray; a much longer ME time with the Lord, resting in his presence, meditating on his Word and bonding with him in the quietness and peace of our beautiful chapel. There I experienced what the prophet Jeremiah said in the first reading: “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock from all the lands to which I have driven them and bring them back to their meadow.” I can personally say that by God’s grace our retreat experience has truly been fruitful, refreshing and nourishing. What about you? Have you ever had a similar experience in your life? Have you ever gone for a spiritual retreat in a place of silence, away from the hustle and bustle of city life? If yes, how frequent do you actually do that?

Brothers and sisters, the passage we have heard today teaches us the great importance of setting aside prayer time in our busy life as missionary disciples of Jesus. In the gospel story we just heard, we see Jesus inviting his twelve apostles to a deserted place where they could rest and be alone with God in prayer. We recall that last Sunday Jesus summoned the twelve, and after sharing with them his power, he sent them two by two to preach the good news to various towns and villages he intended to visit. Today we just heard the continuation of that story. After their amazing apostolic experience and on-the-job training the twelve came back to Jesus reporting to him all the good they had done and had witnessed.

And so, after seeing how tired and happy they were, Jesus invited them to an out-of-the-way place to spend with him some restful and prayerful bonding time with the Father. He said “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” I guess Jesus really saw how tired they were from their work experience, and at the same time he wanted to teach them that without sufficient rest and prayer time, they risk ending up burnt out. And so I believe this is also what the Lord is teaching us today: that we as his modern day apostles should also withdraw, time and again, to some sacred space away from noise and distractions in order to pray and be refreshed and recharged. Such spiritual “retreats” have the power to enhance even more the fruitfulness of our work, our relationships, our apostolic activities and charitable deeds.

We wonder where Jesus could have learned this habit of praying. Who could have instilled in him the importance of withdrawing to some sacred space for prayer? I believe it could be no other than his Blessed Mother Mary and St. Joseph, his foster father. Both of them must have taught the boy Jesus how to pray, in the privacy of their home in Nazareth, in sacred places like the synagogue and the temple, and I guess also in the beauty of nature surrounding them. With their guidance, the young Jesus must have developed soon the habit of daily prayer, and uninterrupted connectivity with God. This could explain why later on, all throughout his public ministry Jesus would still attend without fail the weekly worship services in their synagogue, as well as the yearly feasts at the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Aside from that he would also go up a high mountain away from the crowd to spend his own “ME time” with God, absorbed in deep prayer and contemplation.

We see this same practice of habitual prayer also in the life of Mary. If you recall, the angel Gabriel appeared to her one day to announce to her that she would become the Mother of God. Biblical scholars claim that most probably that event of the annunciation happened when Mary was absorbed in deep prayer inside their home in Nazareth. This could explain why Mary became so disposed to respond to God’s call with great generosity. And the succeeding events of her life would clearly show her attitude and virtue of being prayerful and obedient to God’s will.

And so looking at Mary, we see in her a model of both prayer and action. It was her prayer life that boosted her kind deeds and service to others, and it was her prayerful heart too that kept her connectivity with God. This I believe is precisely what we need most today as we prepare for the great Jubilee of Christ’s Nativity which will officially open this coming December 25. It is high time that we sanctify our work with prayer, and that our prayers should be translated into apostolic action… that after praying, we also become better missionaries to others. After 2025 years of Christ’s birth we need to share his love to those who still do not know him or to those who have not yet accepted Jesus’ love in their hearts. But first we need to spend some beautiful bonding moments with the Lord who is definitely more important than all the good work we do. We need to pause from our busy life in order to pray.

There is however a twist in today’s gospel story. When Jesus and the apostles reached the other side of the lake where they intended to rest and pray, lo and behold, another vast crowd appeared before them to their great surprise. When Jesus saw them his heart must have melted within him. The gospel text says “his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” In other words while Jesus had already set his mind on carrying out a beautiful plan for their own good, he just had to put it aside and attend to the needs of the bigger community. Contrary to what many of us might think, Jesus was after all not that strict and rigid. Today he is revealed to us as someone who has the human trait of flexibility. Through this story we come to know him more deeply as someone who has truly a magnanimous heart; a heart that could feel what his apostles were feeling after a tiring apostolate, but also a heart that could feel the vast crowd’s insatiable hunger for God’s Word.

Let’s examine ourselves. Do we also have a heart like that of Jesus? Or has our heart become callous and insensitive that we no longer feel the pain and the unexpressed feelings of others?

Our Holy Mass today offers us a ME time with the Lord. But it can also be an opportunity to have a spiritual check-up. Let us open our hearts to Jesus and allow him to examine it. Let us listen to what his diagnosis will be. I hope and pray that he will find in each of us a spiritually enlarged heart able to accommodate everyone and beating sensitively not for one’s self but for the needs of others.

We pray therefore in this Eucharist that following the footsteps of our Lord and of our Blessed Mother we too may become the apostles and good shepherds Jesus wants us to be today especially for the neediest. Like them may we strive to develop the habit of daily prayer, and above all, maintain an uninterrupted communion with God that enlarges our heart to give more and more, always aware that we are truly gifted to give. GiGsss!

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