A Reflection From our Pastoral Team
Today, we are presented with a very brief gospel. Remember now that we are in the gospel of Saint Mark, and the great thing about Mark is that he leaves you asking questions all the time. Last Sunday, we heard that Jesus sent his apostles, two by two, to preach repentance. This is Jesus with his disciples. The disciples had been sent, perhaps a few weeks earlier, to the towns and villages to teach them about the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is near, the Kingdom of God is here, and the Kingdom of God is within us. And now they all come back, and he gathers them together, and they tell him, and he asks them what their experience was like.
They were ready to spend some time with themselves and with Jesus. But people watched them leave, and those smart enough knew when they got on the ship where they were going. So, they ran all over the beach around that area of Galilee and arrived first.
Jesus saw the people as sheep without a shepherd who did not know where to turn. We should ask ourselves what the lesson is here. The Gospel doesn’t tell us, and yet when Mark puts this here, he wants you to understand who you are, your situation, and what is important when you go out to preach the Kingdom of God and what is secondary.
We must know that the reason for preaching is Jesus. We are not preaching the Kingdom of God; we are preaching the presence of Jesus. And we don’t preach it with our mouths. We preach it with our lives. Remember that. You don’t convert people with your mouth, you convert them with how you live your life. So basically what Jesus was trying to teach the disciples is that preaching the word of God is not a matter of libraries, it is not a matter of organization. It’s one thing. It is allowing the goodness, love and care of Jesus to reach from your heart to the hearts of everyone else.
The first thing Mark said was: When his disciples returned, he sat with them and listened, listened, and listened. And then, when they got to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, he saw that we had to put aside many of our plans because there was something more important here, and it was people in need, people who needed to be helped, to be accepted, that they are taken care of. May our Lord give us strength and desire to continue being a living example for others.
Peace and good, Friar Oscar Mendez, OFM
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