Word of the Week

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Withdrew: Anachoreo (Gk.): meaning “to go back; return”, or “to withdraw”

Jesus often withdrew to pray in solitude, on a mountain, for all mankind. “His words and works are the visible manifestation of his prayer in secret” (CCC, 2602). Christ would retreat in prayer that he might go to the decision center of his being, the heart. “The heart is the dwelling-place where I am, where I live; according to the Semitic or Biblical expression, the heart is the place "to which I withdraw." The heart is our hidden center, beyond the grasp of our reason and of others; only the Spirit of God can fathom the human heart and know it fully. The heart is the place of decision, deeper than our psychic drives. It is the place of truth, where we choose life or death. It is the place of encounter, because as image of God we live in relation: it is the place of covenant” (CCC, 2563).

Withdrew can be found 14 times in New Testament. As noted in the above CCC definition, typically, when we read of Christ withdrawing to the hills it entails his intent to both pray for the people of God and at the same time replenish for his mission of redemption (Mt.14:13). In the gospel of Mark, Christ withdraws with his disciples to suggest that the future of the twelve (and all subsequent bishops) will need to withdraw with Christ for their mission to evangelize the nations (Mk.3:7). Matthew uses the term ten times in his gospel. The first can be found in his account of Joseph’s dream and his flight to Egypt. In each case, anachoreo translates departed (Mt.2:12-14). In addition, Matthew talks about Christ withdrawing to avoid danger (Mt.12:15). In the miracles of the loaves and fishes, the people were ready to crown him a king, and “perceiving this…he withdrew again to the hills by himself” (Jn.6:15).

In this Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, we ought to reflect upon the centrality of Christ retreating in prayer and consider carefully the meaning of him going to the hills, into the mountains. Simply put, Christ reveals to us that his missionary work would have no meaning if it were not sustained by a life of constant retreating in prayer. Existential to his ministry, prayer shields his work from the distortion of Satan’s wielding works of confusion. Moreover, Christ’s need to go into the hills or mountains to pray reminds us of another great point. All the faithful are called to go on retreat to recharge the battery. We have to fight the business of the world with the contemplation of Christ. The mountainous regions of the world are places of beauty, seclusion, silence, and often surrender. Let us rekindle our sense of purpose by retreating in prayer and fanning the flame of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us all! 

“The mountain is the place of ascent, not only outward, but also inward; it is a liberation of the everyday burden of life, a breathing in of the pure air of creation, it offers a view of  the broad expanse of creation and its beauty; it gives one an inner peak to stand on an intuitive sense of the Creator.”

--Pope Benedict XVI

Primary Texts Consulted

•  Catholic Bible. Suggested trans. Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
•  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition, 1997

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