Going Away into Silent Prayer

"In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there." Mk 1:35


Since Jesus started His ministry, going around to different towns, teaching, healing, casting out devils, every day was given up for the people, serving them with love. People would swamp to Him, crowd after crowd. I am sure He must have felt very tired from time to time, having insufficient sleep at times, walking long distances, etc. Yet, He continued His mission of bringing the good news to the people, tirelessly and selflessly. 


Being always in the public, with so much noise, so many things occurring, Jesus had no private space or personal time to pray and be with His Father. Even Jesus, who recognizes this, had to leave the house before dawn, before people started to swamp Him again, to go to a lonely place to pray, where He is freed from distractions and can be in connection with His Father, to draw strength from His Father and to sense His Father's will.


By this, Jesus Himself shows us an example that we, too, busy as we all are, can still find time and space to pray and be in connection with Him. And He's also shown us that if He, the Son of God, needs also to be in quiet to pray amidst the demands of the day, then all the more we who are so weak, need to set aside time daily to be in quiet to pray. 


Let us, after a long and hard day of work and play, "go away" with our Lord, into silence, to be with Him, to listen to Him, to love Him and deepen our relationship with Him.


06 December 2010, Monday
8.59am