I have been wanting to give a short Sunday homily for years, and the time has finally come!  The reason is because I’m tired and, after prayer, it seemed the reasonable thing to do. (You think you’re happy.  No one is happier than I!  🙂)

Last week, we talked about the greater need to give than to receive, because the human person has a tendency towards selfishness; most of us probably take more than we give.  This is why our Lord spoke more often about dying to ourselves and self-giving rather than resting.

That said, the human person has a legitimate need to rest, because we’re not God, we’re creatures and are limited.

Today’s Gospel is about underestimating the ordinary.  Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth, and people who know Him, who grew up with Him, ask four questions, “Where did this man get all this?  What is this wisdom that has been given to him?  What deeds of power are being done by his hands!  Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mk 6:2-3).  In other words, a carpenter with Whom we grew up can’t be God—He’s too ordinary.  We know His family—therefore He can’t be this powerful.

“And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.  And Jesus was amazed at their unbelief” (6:5-6).  Lack of faith prevented Jesus from working miracles in their lives.

We may do the same thing with Sunday, which, for us, is our Sabbath.  We underestimate the power of dedicating this day to God.  Perhaps by doing extra work, by skipping Mass, by focusing on other things before God, we prevent Him from working miracles in our lives.

Now, if our shift work means we work on Sunday, then we try to get to Mass at a different time, such as 8 p.m. Mass at the cathedral—the point is that we’re prioritizing Jesus over our work.  And then we should rest another day, as I do on Monday.

So, this Sabbath Summer, let’s ask for more faith.  Instead of thinking, ‘I’m too busy, I don’t have enough time for Mass or prayer, I need to work more,’ we should think, ‘Jesus commands us to do something very simple every Sunday: Stop our work, thank Him for creation and redemption, participate in Mass, spend time with our loved ones, and rest.

Our faith says something so ordinary is extremely powerful.