"These four verses, the shortest gospel reading in the Sunday cycle, recount a fairly unremarkable circumstance. When the Twelve, sent out by Jesus to preach repentance, return and report to him, he calls them to retire with him to a ‘deserted place’, away from the crowds. They escape by boat but the crowds get ahead of them. For Jesus, moved with pity, the crowds seem like ‘sheep without a shepherd’, so he begins to teach..."
Fr. Fergus Kerr. "The Empty Desert?." Torch. July 15, 2015