One Minute Reflection – 22 July – Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Today’s Gospel: Mark 6:30-34
And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a lonely place and rest a while.”...Mark 6:31
REFLECTION – “So they got into the boat and went away by themselves to a deserted spot”… The people followed them. They showed how concerned they were for their salvation by the effort they made in going along the deserted road, not on donkeys or in carts of various kinds but on foot. In return Jesus welcomed those weary, ignorant, sick and hungry people, instructing, healing and feeding them as a kindly saviour and physician and so letting them know how pleased He is by believers’ devotion to Him.”…Saint Bede the Venerable (c 673-735) Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on Saint Mark’s gospel, 2 ; CCL 120, 510)
“Today we could pray during this mass for our shepherds, that the Lord may give them the grace to walk with the people and to be present for them with much tenderness and closeness. When people find their shepherd, they feel that special sensation only felt in the presence of God. The amazement comes from the feeling of the closeness and tenderness of God in the shepherd.”…Pope Francis – Santa Marta, 30 January 2018
PRAYER – Be gracious, Lord, to us who serve You and in Your kindness increase Your gifts of grace within us, so that fervent in faith, hope and love, we may be ever on the watch and persevere in doing what You command. Guard, protect and inspire our own shepherds, our priests who serve Your people, keep them faithful, loyal and prayerful. May our Mother, the most Holy and Pure Blessed Virgin Mary, keep our priests and all of us at her side. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, one God with Holy Spirit, forever and ever, amen.
