GOING OFF TO PRAY

PRAYER MOMENT (I have moved and am not sure of the regularity of power where I am now so this contribution may become intermittent at times).

Thursday 9 January 2014

 GOING OFF TO PRAY

Pause. We seek the Lord  in quiet.

Reading. “He would always go off to some place where he could be alone and pray.”  (Luke 5:12-16)  

Reflection. Early in his gospel Luke gives us a glimpse of how Jesus proceeded. It was not a haphazard response to endless daily requests for cures. He was clear about his mission to announce the reign of God breaking into the world just as he had come in the flesh at what we now call Christmas. He taught and he healed but he also took time to be on his own and pray. What was that prayer like? Was it “many words” pleading for help? Or was it a time of silent communion with the Father in which Jesus was attentive and spoke few words? We do not know what it was like for Jesus to pray to his “Abba” but we can imagine it was a time of intense unity of wills. “Thy will be done.” Our day needs those moments.

Prayer. Lord, teach us to find time to be still and listen to you; to really hear your will for my life and for the world. Help me to be sensitive to you in the choices I make every day and every moment. Amen.