Sixteenth Sunday of the Year

The need to recharge

 
Everywhere you go people are on the phone. You wonder how much of it is necessary. In cafés you often see groups of people at the same table who are out together but who are completely ignoring each other because each is catching up on texts and emails and the latest news or you tube clips.
But what happens if you are out and your phone battery is dead?

We have so many gadgets like iPhones and androids that we probably overuse that there is the danger of them going dead very quickly. We know probably from experience to keep our phones or other gadgets charged on a regular basis. Our cars have chargers and we pack our chargers on vacation. We get agitated if we leave them behind! And we panic if we have the wrong charger with us if a new phone requires a new different charger and we have packed the wrong one!

With all this concern and need of chargers we forget that we too need to recharge ourselves!
We of course need rest and recreation because we are physical, mental and emotional beings. We need rest in order to recharge and reboot ourselves. Lack of sleep, lack of mental breaks and lack of emotional downtime will take its toll. We burn out, get stressed, anxious, depressed and drained.

But at a much deeper level we need not just our Sabbath rest but spiritual rest. We are spiritual beings. We need silence and solitude because it is only in silence that God speaks. Silence is very much in short supply in modern lifestyles so it is no wonder we get so anxious and restless wondering why we are unhappy or discontented. We are spiritually ill at ease. We need help.

This is what the disciples needed in today's Gospel passage. They were so busy that they had no time for the basic necessities of life such as eating. Without food there can be no energy. Without spiritual food, prayer, reflection, meditation and above all Jesus in the Eucharist we fade, we wilt spiritually, and we don't have the spiritual reserves to keep going. Jesus is what and who we need when we are restless, anxious, afraid and lost in today's world of compulsive busy-ness.

Jesus tells the disciples to come away with him to a deserted place where they can be alone by themselves. This is necessary for all disciples on every generation. He is their shepherd first before He becomes the shepherd to the needy crowd. He teaches them at some length - they are fed with His teaching, His truth. The disciples have nothing left to give with what we might call their 'compassion fatigue'.

We all need to find a place - at home, in the parish or even at a distance such as a chapel, convent, monastery or designated retreat centre where we can switch off the interfering gadgets that call us back to frantic living. A place - when time and duty allow - where we can find that space where Jesus calls us each to be alone by ourselves with him. He wants to deepen our relationship with Him. Like all relationships and friendships this means spending time speaking and listening. We can be surprised by the sudden descent into silence and there He speaks to us as we try to make sense of life and our experiences that we need to process. There too, He gives us direction and guidance. It is amazing how calm and recollected we are after a prolonged period of silent prayer.

We find, as the disciples did, that we can be done without by others even for a while. Jesus is at work in the lives of others in our care even while we have been away. On our return we are better disposed to serve them and Jesus even solves a few of the problems that have occupied our minds or makes the solutions apparent to us.

Time spent in prayer, then, is never wasted time. Why not make a definite time commitment each day?

 Watch and see the results !