First reading: Job 7:1-4,6-7
Psalm: Ps 147:1-6
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19,22-23
Gospel: Mark 1:29-39

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

Busy:

Jesus was hard at work. He fasted in the dessert for 40 days, underwent temptation, walked along the Sea of Galilee gathering His disciples, went to Caper’na-um where He preached and healed, went directly to Peter’s home where He cured Peter’s mother-in-law, then took care of the crowds that came. Scripture tells us that: the whole city was gathered together about the door.

It would make sense for Jesus to want to sleep in a little, to seek some respite and refreshment. Instead, Jesus got up before sunrise and went off to pray. In prayer He found rest and healing.

Mutual:

Jesus’ prayers weren’t casual. He engaged in prayer in the same way He engaged people while preaching the Gospel, with intensity. In His prayer Jesus sought out the Father’s will. He listened for direction and entered an active dialog with His Father. In turn the Father heard Him and set His plan in motion. In doing so, He gave His son the rest, healing, and strength necessary to succeed.

Not one sided:

Relationships with God are not one sided affairs. Jesus gives us example when He asks, listens, and responds. He tells us that the Father listens and gives what is needed. Prayer is a mutual process, a two way exchange, because God truly hears and responds to His children. As the Father heard and responded to His son, so He hears and responds to us with gifts of rest, healing, strength, and resolve.

Understanding/Solution:

The underlying message of today’s Gospel is that healing and rest are not just at the surface, and not something that lasts for only a time. Jesus healing and His rest are everlasting. We get to His healing and rest through the relationship of prayer. When we hear the gospel message Jesus preached, and respond to it, God mutually responds to us. As we enter this pre-Lenten season, hearing that message key to our starting out right.

Doing:

These are the weeks we are to work toward intensifying our prayer. These are the weeks in which we are to focus on the areas of our lives that need reform and repentance. This is the time to sit down with God and engage in that mutual exchange. He is already listening, always has been. He is holding out those gifts of healing and rest, strength and resolve that we each need in different measure.

Recompense:

We think, I don’t have time. This is too much. Paul might have felt the same thing on the way to Damascus, planning and scheduling his ‘persecute the Christians time.’ Suddenly he met Jesus. Today, Paul reminds us that he received a commission that day – to preach the Gospel. Paul saw this as not just a commission, an obligation, but as a duty and a reward in and of itself. Paul chose not to take the things he was entitled to, including rest and recompense. Paul set those aside to become a slave to all so that God’s work would be accomplished. Paul knew that those who accepted God’s word would be saved, and for this he set aside all he was due, even a moment of rest, so that he could pray and spread the Gospel of Jesus. In doing that he found true rest and peace.

Healing:

In choosing to enter a life with God, in preparing for our Lenten journey, we must make the mutuality of prayer a key component. In that mutual exchange we will find our God who is listening, and His response which will be the reward of healing, peace, strength, resolve, and the glory of a life lived in joy as we take up the commission to share the Gospel.

Our first step will be never be a holy hour, or perhaps not even five minutes. But, we must make a start. We must resolve to follow Jesus’ example, by starting our day in prayer, by saying yes to our God who listens so that God’s healing and peace will remain with us for the challenges ahead. Amen.