February 6, 2021 – Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/020621.cfm)

Take a deep breath and begin to take this short exercise for today. Inhale God’s Spirit. Exhale your fear and negative emotions. Inhale God’s assurance of love. Exhale your doubts and anxieties of tomorrow. Inhale the gift of the present moment. Exhale the pains of the past.

To do this would be very helpful in order to gather our mind, see clearly things in life and re-balance ourselves. There could be many things going on in our mind and heart from the concerns at home that we carry in our work that we also bring into our relationships. Things can be complicated when we do not see the direction of each aspect of our life. Home, work, friendship, love-life and other extra-curricular activities when they come together, our hands will be full. When one or two aspects become overwhelming, others will be affected. From all the stress and burdens that one experience every day, there is really a need to take a break, to take a deep breath and re-balance life.

Such invitation and to dwell into that call is as much as important as eating and taking exercise. To take a break or to take a rest is a human need that must be taken into consideration and given much importance. For the sake of wellness not just physically but also emotionally and spiritually, we are called to come away by ourselves and rest a while.

This is what we have heard in today’s Gospel of Mark.  Jesus said to his apostles after all they had done and taught, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.” The work that they have done must have been not just tiring physically but also in other aspects of their life. The apostles, when they faced sick people must have also encountered rejections and angry reactions from Jewish authorities and other people who refused to accept Jesus’ message and call to repentance.

Jesus was very aware on how work for the kingdom of God can also be straining and draining to a person. Even the most energetic and most joyful person will also feel tired and need to rest.

With that awareness, Jesus invited the apostles to grab that opportunity to rest, to pray, to relax, to take a deep breath and re-balance life according to God’s desire for them. Jesus himself would even take this opportunity. In all Gospels, Jesus would take time to go to a deserted place alone and pray in order to commune with his Father in heaven. 

In fact, our Psalm today also proclaims to us how God desires to lead us to a place of rest and renewal. It says wonderfully, “the Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want. In verdant pastures he gives me repose. Beside restful waters he leads me, he refreshes my soul.”

This attitude allows us to be in touched with ourselves and in touched with God’s daily invitations for us. As we find our personal deserted places to be alone, spend it with quality by devoting that time to be enmeshed in God’s assuring presence that we may be refreshed, renewed, recharged and once again find balance and peace in life. Hinaut pa.