Opening Prayer Series: Collect for 16th Sunday of Year B

The Collect for the 16th Sunday of Year B reads as follows:

Let us pray,

Show favour O Lord to Your servants

and mercifully increase the gifts of Your grace,

that, made fervent in hope, faith and charity,

they may be ever watchful in keeping Your commands.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ Your Son,

who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God for ever and ever.

In makiing this prayer tangible for during the week the following reflection questions emerged:

1. Why ask the Lord to show us His favour?
2. How might I cooperate with God by using the gifts of grace He provides?
3. What do I understand the grace of faith to be?  
4. What do I understand the grace of hope to be?
5. What do I understand the grace of charity (love) to be?
6. What are the commands of the Lord which you find difficult to keep/err?
7. What decisions/actions will you make this week to change this difficulty and perpensity to sin?
8. What will I do this week to continue on my journey in the Year of Grace?

NB: I have a written a series on the Virtues. You may wish to check it out. 
You may also wish to peruse the series on the Year of Grace which is in progress.

In today's Gospel we enter into the what happens to the disciples when they return from their mission.  They tell Jesus all they did and taught.  He invites them to come and rest in a quiet place by the lake.

This plan is frustrated when a crowd of people hurry along the shore of the lake and are there to welcome Jesus and His disciples when they arrive.  Like a good shepherd in the prophecy of Ezekiel (34:11-16), Jesus feels compassion for them and begins to teach them.

This gospel is relevant for us today especially for those in ministry.  Everyone needs time out from work to refresh and replenish our bodies, minds and spirits.  God rested on the seventh day in the story of creation in Genesis from " all the work He had been doing"'.  So, if it is good enough for God, then it is more necessary for us, since we need to be renewed.  We cannot do this if we are constantly busy and working.  We must have rest-rest in the Lord.

However, there are people in the world who are keen to hear the Word of God and want to hurry along our shore to hear it Jesus speak to them through us.  Sometimes it is not very convenient, since our plans are thawted, but like Jesus, we need to have compassion and teach them. We may not need to go looking for the crowd.  They may our colleagues at work, our extended families, those we meet in the street or whilst doing shopping or our fellow parishioners who are hungry to know their faith more deeply.

It comes down to balance.  Jesus wants to spend time wiith us and we need to spend time with Him.  Otherwise, we cannot serve Him to our fullest capacity if our tank is on empty.  We are spiritually burnt out.  However, when we encounter someone who desires to know their faith more and hear the voice of Jesus  speak through us, we need to take the time to be compassionate and feed this person's hunger.

May we be granted the gift of physical, emotional and spiritual balance during this coming week.