10 February 2020
Memorial of Saint Scholastica, virgin
In Mark 6, after the death of John the Baptist, Jesus invites his disciples “to a deserted place to rest awhile” (Mk 6:31). The day turns out to be anything but restful (at least in the way we would normally understand the term). You can pray a bit on that using this reflection, if you wish: https://www.magisspirituality.org/ignatian_reflection/18-07-22/.
Today’s gospel reading, Mark 6:53-56, recounts what happened when Jesus and his disciples returned from that “deserted place.” The people immediately recognize Jesus and the disciples and follow them around, bringing the sick on mats to them wherever they happen to be, most especially the marketplaces where people gather and interact freely.
It takes some effort to carry a sick person in on a mat, and even more effort to care for chronically ill and disabled people. Nonetheless, people do it, because they recognize that they are boundo one another, by love and by blood. The weakness of one is the weakness of all who are bound to that person. And so the yearning for healing, wholeness, salvation of one is the yearning of all.
How are we called to live this today? Where are the marketplaces where people mingle and converse? Would we dare encounter Jesus there? Would we bring others there? Would we dare be Christ’s body there, offered for people to touch so that they might be healed?