HOMILY SUN 16-B
Meditation and Ministry – A Fine Balance
(Jeremiah 23:1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2:13-18; Mark 6:30-34)
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Breathe deeply and hold your breath. Now let it out. What have we done? We have filled our two lungs with air.
A Christian breathes with two lungs – a lung of prayer and a lung of action. To follow Jesus, we must balance meditation and ministry, prayer and action, in our life
The image of a good shepherd dominating today’s readings is well established in the scriptures. Moses prays the people will have a leader so they will not find themselves like sheep without a shepherd. The prophets condemned the kings for failing to act like shepherds. Ezekiel promises a new age in which God himself will shepherd his people.
In the gospel, Jesus presents himself as that promised shepherd, a shepherd who balances prayer and service, meditation and ministry, in his person and his actions.
Though he was God, and perhaps especially because he was God, he himself went regularly into lonely places to pray, to meditate, to commune intimately with the Father. From out of that privileged time of prayer, he was able to reach out to the poor and needy, to have compassion on them, to feel in his guts for them, and to respond to their need by teaching and caring for them.
He did the same with his disciples. First, he invited them to come and see where he lived, to stay with him, to form community with him. He taught them and showed them who he was, and only then did he send them out to carry out his ministry, to teach and to heal. And even then, as we see in the gospel today, he would take them aside for more time of rest and renewal, or at least he tried to do that.
The message is clear. Jesus as Good Shepherd modelled ministry flowing out of prayer. He asks the same of us. If we are to live out our calling as disciples, as shepherds of one another, we must also balance meditation and ministry in our lives.
If we are to be like Jesus, do what Jesus did and handle the challenges of life, we must pray as Jesus prayed. If we are to be like Jesus, deal with the dysfunction around us, let go of resentment and anger, forgive as Jesus did, be free from addiction, live in joy and peace, then we must pray as Jesus prayed.
Every year, a major pilgrimage to Lac St Anne takes place in Alberta. Hopefully, like the people in the gospel who hungered for Jesus’ Word and sought him out in deserted places, people come to this out of the way place as pilgrims and not tourists.
A pilgrimage always involves a journey to a sacred place where two realities meet – either sky and land, as at Kehiwin, Alberta, or land and water, as at Lac St Anne. We come for a theophany. A theophany is a technical word for an encounter, a meeting. In our need, we have come to seek out, and meet God in Jesus Christ.
LSA Lake blessing
We will find him if we open our hearts to truly hear and listen to his Word, for he is to be found in his Word. We will find him in the sacrament of reconciliation, as we bring to his feet our failings and sin, confess them to another human being, and receive his forgiveness and healing.
One evening at the pilgrimage, a young lady was journaling by the reconciliation rooms. She was completing her Step 4 of the 12 Step program – doing a searching and fearless moral inventory. When I noticed her, she told me she was ready to do her Step 5 (Admit to God, herself and another human being, the exact nature of her wrongs). However, she was afraid – afraid of that step, yet wanting and needing to do it, and afraid that if she put it off, she might lose her courage. So, we did it late that evening. She cleaned house and got rid of years of garbage, guilt, shame and fear. What a great start she had to her pilgrimage at Lac St. Anne. She met Jesus that night, and left feeling joy and much lighter. And so can we, through the sacrament of reconciliation.
What flows out of our prayer is service. We serve by caring, by doing things for others. We can volunteer our service in our community. We can help clean up after events, look after the physical needs of the elderly, maintain the Church buildings, choose a ministry for liturgy, and make our work one of true service to others. The late John F. Kennedy, former president of the United States, put it well when he told his followers in a campaign speech, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” I would say now, “Ask not what your Church can do for you; ask what you can do for your church.”
A well-known example of one who managed to balance meditation and ministry in her life is Mother Theresa of Calcutta. She would rise early with her sisters for an hour of listening to God’s word in contemplation and prayer. They would then celebrate the Eucharist. That empowered her to spend her day joyfully serving Christ in the sick and the dying.
The Eucharist is a special encounter with Jesus. He is present in each one of us who are here. He is present in his Word that we have just proclaimed. And he is present in his Body and Blood that we share in communion. And then he missions us, sends us out to love as he loved, with compassion, forgiveness and understanding, to teach and to heal.
So remember, to do as Jesus did, be sure to balance meditation and ministry, prayer and action in your life.
