What gets you up before dawn?

See my reflection on Mark 1:29-39 at CatholicMom.com

What gets you out of bed before dawn?

We push ourselves beyond our superficial comforts for things that we value. Some value fun and stay up late gaming. Some value health or appearance, so they push themselves to get up and exercise. Some prioritize learning and make time to read or study. Some put their duty to family or friends first, pushing beyond their need for rest or recreation to serve others. In each of these, a different value drives a person to stretch.

What drives you? What drives Jesus?

“Rising very early before dawn, he . . . went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”

Prayer can often seem like “another thing” that we can’t find time for. Can we be as busy as Jesus? He had just taught in the synagogue, left (maybe hoping for rest) and healed Simon’s mother-in-law, and found Himself faced with many people in need – some ill, some possessed, no doubt some who just needed encouragement. This began after sunset, so it seems He did not get a full night’s sleep.

And yet, He rose before the sun to seek out some silence and solitude.

Why?

Jesus is always driven by the same thing: the Father. He does the will of the Father. He says what the Father tells Him to say. He does the works He sees the Father doing. He needs to be in communication with the Father, in solitude, to know the Father’s will and to do it.

Surely, His whole life was prayer, yet we see that Jesus went away in order to pray. The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, as man, must seek out actual times of solitude to PRAY, to be in union with the Father, to listen to the Voice of God.

 Ponder:

When do you pray? Before dawn? At mealtimes? When you can? Can you never?

Pray:

Lord, I know that it is in the silent pauses that I can hear You most clearly. Help me to find the places in my day to carve out silence so that I can listen for Your word to me.