iloilo provincial high school reunion - 4th week saturday

Our gospel today narrates how the apostles after being sent two by two, traveling on foot, after having worked hard preaching the good news and after healing the sick and those possessed by demons, all went back to Jesus.  They all gathered back to Jesus bringing with them their different experiences.  This gathering must have been noisy for they were all reporting to him what they did and what they taught the people they met.   Through all these Jesus must have kept quiet, listening to them.  And probably after settling down, Jesus took the opportunity presented by the occasion to teach them something important.  He said to them, Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.

What does this mean to us today?  The early Christian writers have their varied interpretations, different from each other, but also enriching each other. 

First Jerome said, this could mean that we must always find time to return to the spring from where the waters flowed.  This means that those sent by God must always come back to the source of all things to offer thanks for what they have received.  To go back in order to recognize the source of the good in us and to offer thanks.  Many times we fail to recognize the source.  Many times we forget what made us who we are today.  Many times we forget what sustains us.  And because we cannot recognize the source, we cannot also offer thanks. 

Theophilact, another early Christian writer offered his own interpretation of this gospel passage saying, “let us not go very far but let us often go back to him, who sends us, and report all that we have done and taught.” What does it mean to not go very far?  To go far means to be distant, but this is a distance not measured by kilometers but by affection.  We heard of the saying far from the sight, far from the heart, and yet there is also another saying - so near and yet so far.  Surely distance can dull our feelings from each other and yet there are instances when there is no more warmth even in togetherness.  There is no liking even in proximity.  There is no fondness in the meeting.  This happens when God is no longer a father, or a mother, when God is no longer a beloved, or a friend.  God has become distant.  How can we talk to God to report all we have done and all we have taught when our hearts are too far apart?  We cannot.  You will not go back to something or someone you are not or are no longer in love with. We become distant when we do not stay in love.

St. Bede, another Christian writer, offered his own interpretation of today’s gospel saying "The Lord makes His disciples rest, to show that people who work or preach cannot do so without breaks."

Resting is important.  Resting refreshes our tired bodies, it rejuvenates our souls, and it restores our strength.  We need to rest.  We need breaks.  We need to sleep well and take a nap, to eat our food slowly, to admire the garden, to be with friends, and even just to do nothing.  But the image of our rest today is like sitting on a rocking chair.  We rest while remaining restless.  We are already drinking too many tablets that would reduce stress and anxiety, too many exercises to make us calm and yet we have to cope everyday with diseases, not from viruses but from stress.  Why?  Because we are not resting in the Lord.  Our responsorial psalm today is bringing us back to the idyll of life – peace and quiet, restful waters and greener pastures, secure surroundings without fear and trembling.  It is an idyll only a good shepherd can provide.  Only in the Lord can we rest.

Today you are gathered for a reunion, to recall and even to relive and even to re-enact a graduation that happened 5o years ago.  Only old people do this.  And by saying that you know what I mean.  But it is appropriate indeed that the gospel today tells us the importance of gathering together not just among ourselves but even so in the Lord.  Not just to gather but to do so in the Lord.

I believe what I said in our reflection on the gospel has so much resonance in what we are doing today.  The injunction to go back to the spring from which water flowed and to offer thanks, to be thankful speaks of our gathering today.  There is resonance in what the gospel is saying when it enjoins us not to get very far, not to be distant in our affection.  You have to remain in love otherwise why go back, why a reunion?  And finally we have to rest, we need to take a break, we need to slow down, we need to enjoy a good company and enjoy a hearty laugh.  We can only do this when we rest secure in the Lord, knowing and believing that the Lord is with us and he will take care of us.  .People who do not have the Lord with them can be anxious about so many things.  But today you gather in the Lord.  (Nadumduman ko ang pangamuyo ni Pope John XXIII sang nabatyagan na niya ang kabug-at sang iya obra indi na sia katulog – so nangadi sia nga nagasiling, “Lord this is your church.  Take care of it.  Now I will sleep.”  And so now tell also the Lord, Lord these are your apos, take care of them, now I will go to our reunion.) 

May you be thankful, may you be blessed and happy, may you feel rested in his company and in the company of your friends.