Everybody's working for the weekend

So goes the chorus of a dippy pop song from the 1980's.

So also go the lives of many people today: their lives are built around their weekends – two days to pursue a variety of entertainments (as well as more than a few errands and perhaps even a little rest).

Weekends have their origin in the Judeo-Christian tradition of a weekly day of rest that was dedicated to God. Sadly, many if not most of us do not honor that tradition as fully as we should (the great Pope John Paul II’s 1998 Apostolic Letter Dies Domini is worth reading on this subject).

Indeed, the lack of rest seriously impacts the lives of many in this busy modern world.

In today’s Gospel (Mark 6:30-34), our Lord reaffirms the human need of rest as he says to his Apostles,

Come away by yourselves to a deserted place
and rest a while.

So too we need to consider our own need for rest.

But when our Lord and the Apostles arrived at their place of rest and retreat, even there they found people that needed ministering to.

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things.

It is very important that we attend to our basic human need for rest, but it is also important to remember (to borrow an expression I heard from a seminarian) that there is no vacation from our vocation to make Christ present every moment of our lives.