A Balanced Life

Homily for Saturday of the Fourth Week in Ordinary Time

We come to the end of the Letter to the Hebrews after four weeks of proclaiming it at our daily liturgies. This last segment from chapter thirteen asks us to praise God continually. This admonition is juxtaposed with the Gospel passage that tells us that people were coming and going in such great numbers that Jesus and the apostles didn’t even have time to eat. When they sought out a deserted place in which they could renew themselves with time for prayer and time for their own personal needs, they found that the crowd had preceded them and was waiting for their arrival.

I am sure that there have been times in our own lives when we feel the tension between our obligations and our needs to take care of ourselves. We cannot put off the immediate needs of others for our own comfort, but we will not serve them well if we do not nourish our activity with prayer, quiet, and solitude. This is the typical tension with which we are asked to live out our Christian life. Consequently, it is our responsibility to find a balance between our obligations and our needs for personal prayer and care for our bodily needs.

Even in this, Jesus understands because, as the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, he has been through this in his own life. Throughout the Gospels, especially in the Gospel of St. Luke, we hear that Jesus sought out time and a place for his prayer life. This is especially true before the great episodes of his life. While food and drink are necessary for our bodies, a life of prayer and solitude is necessary for our spiritual life.

Our daily celebration of the Eucharist is a clear reminder of both of these needs as we receive the consecrated bread which sustains both our bodies and our souls with the presence of Jesus in our midst.