A Homily – Mark 6:30-34 ©

The Gospel According to Mark – 2018.07.22

                        

Leadership and Humility

The gospel for today is a call to humility.

For those who seek to teach the faith, we must be humble, and steadfast both.

There will be many who hear the word, and show no interest in it.

There will be other times when those who hear will hunger for it, crowds will gather, lives will be disrupted, the social order may go haywire.

Those moments are to be handled with great care. Be patient, lead them with humility. Listen to them, they will tell you what they need, they will inform you of what you need as well.

A good teacher learns more from their students in a single hour of instruction, than their students learn from them.

If you should find yourself in the position of a pastor or priest, of a teacher of the faith, then be humble, be responsive, listen and learn.

They Were Like Sheep Without a Shepherd

The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, ‘You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while’; for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat. So they went off in a boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But people saw them going, and many could guess where; and from every town they all hurried to the place on foot and reached it before them. So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length

16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time