Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time/B
Massimo Palombella
In today’s Gospel (Mk 6:30-34) Jesus invites the Apostles, weary from preaching, to go to a deserted place and rest.
The ‘rest’ to which Jesus invites the Apostles and us is, in essence, the recovery of a healthy relationship with ourselves, a relationship in which we prepare ourselves for a true encounter with God.
‘Rest’ is not, then, a filling up of our lives in order not to think, or the determined pursuit of a kind of apparent peace and tranquillity.
The rest to which the Lord calls us is that of doing the Truth, of understanding and metabolising those needs that take so much energy away from our living, such as the disordered pursuit of consideration, affection, esteem…
The true God awaits us precisely at the nodal points of our lives, those that really prevent us from ‘resting’ by precluding a healthy ‘quality’ of our ordinary living. He waits for us where we are afraid, where we feel insecure, where we feel pain… He waits for us to heal us, to put us in a position where we can no longer run away, to finally make us rest and truly live.
The Offertory antiphon for today’s celebration is taken from Psalm 18 (Ps 18:9.11.12) with the following text:
“Iustitiae Domini rectae,
laetificantes corda, et dulciora super mel et favum.
Nam et servus tuus custodiet ea.”
(The ordinances of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to all hearts, sweeter than honey or the honeycomb.
There fore your servant will observe them).
The attached music is by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525-1594), and comes from the book of ‘Offertoria totius anni’ published in Rome in 1593 (Offertoria totius anni [Romae, Apud Franciscum Coattinum, 1593]). The performance is by the Choir of Trinity College – Cambridge conducted by Richard Marlow. The music track can be found on the CD ‘Palestrina: Offertoria’ released by Chandos Records in 2007.
A blessed Sunday and heartfelt greetings.
