HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR B

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B

THEME: They were like sheep without a shepherd.

BY: Fr Deotacious Chikontwe SMA

READINGS OF THE DAY
1 Kings 3:4-13
Psalm 118:9-14
Mark 6:30-34

LITURGICAL COLOUR
GREEN

INTRODUCTION
Good morning my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate Saturday of the Forth Week in Ordinary Time of Year B.

FROM OUR FIRST READING
In our first reading today, we heard of the young King Solomon of Israel, who had just taken over the rein of the kingdom from his recently deceased father, King David of Israel. The young Solomon was lacking in experience and his youth is something that had often been taken against rulers of his age, by the people and the important figures of the kingdom. Hence, he came to Gibeon to offer prayers to God, and in that prayer, he sought God’s guidance and help, asking Him for wisdom and knowledge, the understanding and the ability to judge well, between things that are good and evil. And we heard how God was pleased with Solomon and his prayers, and blessed him more than what he had asked for, because he had not asked for wealth, worldly glory or power, as what many others would have done instead.

FROM OUR GOSPEL READING
In today’s gospel, it is known that people are coming and going, and keeping an eye on them, to the extent that Jesus and His disciples hardly have any time for themselves.
And so in order to have a good meal and renew the bonds among His disciples, Jesus invites them to go ‘to a deserted place’. This does not mean that Jesus and His disciples go to a desert place. It is because the places around Lake Galilee are not desert areas. What is described here is a place with a small population so that they can have more privacy among themselves which is far from people who come and go. And also, they need to make a report to Jesus of what they have done. They need to recover their physical and spiritual strengths so that they may be ready for future missions. And above all, there in the desert, there are no distractions. A person cannot be preoccupied by a hundred other things. There in the desert God can speak to the heart and mold it according to His way

CONCLUSION
As people made in God’s image, we need to rest as well as work. A time of rest is an opportunity to look around and appreciate what we have been given; it is a time to take in God’s work, in our own lives, in the lives of others, in our world. In the gospel reading, Jesus’ time of rest with his disciples was interrupted by people who sought him out, and Jesus adjusted to that with great grace. Sometimes our plans for times of rest will be interrupted too and we have to adjust. Yet, we continue to seek out times and places of rest in the course of our lives, times when we hand over the initiative to the Lord.

The Lord be with You.

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