Word to the Wise
Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - Wednesday in the 1st Week in Ordinary Time
[Heb 2:14-18 and Mark 1:29-39]WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2017 WEDNESDAY IN THE FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME [Hebrews 2:14-18 and Mark 1:29-39] Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed. Simon and those who were with him pursued him and on finding him said, "Everyone is looking for you." [Mark] One of the common complaints that I hear at parish missions and especially at retreats is, "I don't have enough time to pray." Indeed, the frantic lifestyle of many people seems composed of mostly work. Even their families are turned into "work." From what the Gospel of Mark shows us today, Jesus had to get up before dawn to pray. Simon and others "pursued" him to squeeze even more healing out of him! "Everyone is looking for you!" A Christian life draws its strength from a relationship to Christ. How can that relationship exist is there is no time spent together? How could a marriage last if the couple only sees one another once a week and then only for an hour? When I hear the complaint about time to pray, I ask the person if they would dream of leaving the house in the morning without brushing their teeth? When they give me a very surprised, "Of course not," I ask them to put prayer at least in that category of things that they couldn't imagine doing without. When prayer is an "add-on" that can be dispensed with easily, that dispensation becomes a form of spiritual starvation. I recently came across a simple form of resolution making in the form of three questions: What do I need to START doing? What do I need to STOP doing? What do I need to KEEP ON DOING. How would each of us apply that set of questions to our prayer life? AMEN
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