Commentary on the Gospel of
"He had compassion on them".
It is comforting every time that Jesus' humanity, his tenderness, his love and affection for his people appear in the Gospel. When the apostles returned tired and joyful from their first pastoral experiences, his tenderness and affection appear when he said to them: "Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a while" (MC 6,31).
He also invites us today and says to us: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt 11,28). After the hard daily work of a Christian, who is responsible, a holiday is necessary, on which we can reflect: We must receive them with gratitude, because they are the fruit of our efforts and the work of others. And we must live them with solidarity, because when we have a good vacation, we must remember those who cannot rest or enjoy themselves as we do. We must use our free days wisely, because at the beginning they are an empty time of obligations that everyone can fill freely, we must fill them with life, because when we think about them we cannot stop thinking about the risks of the road. And we have to come back better than we left, because if we come back more tired than we were when we left home, it would be a waste of time. Holidays, too, should be used to oxygenate the soul and the body, to fill us with silence and to see how to orientate our lives.
Holiday time should not be spent doing nothing. To rest means to regain strength, ideals, plans... In short: to change our occupation, to return stronger to our usual work. Let us choose a suitable place for our rest and in tune with our economy and Christian values. Let us be cheerful and helpful. And let us avoid the idleness that leads us to nothing, even to the point of abandoning our essential practices of piety. Because enjoying good holidays is an art, the art is in living creatively, enjoying the body and the spirit.
Lord : Help us to rest in your presence in the midst of our tasks.
( Psalm 22 ) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
HAPPY SUNDAY TO ALL!
