Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Wednesday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

(Colossians 1: 1-8; Luke 4:38-44)

People speak of the “power of prayer” as if it can tumble mountains.  But prayer has never seemed to be explosive energy as much as an integrative force.   It brings order and peace to the person by acknowledging God as Father whose love overcomes all evil.  Jesus seems aware of this benefit of prayer in today’s gospel.

In Mark’s gospel Jesus is pictured as praying by himself only twice – once on the side of a mountain and then in Gethsemane.  In Luke’s gospel, which we will read almost daily from now until December, Jesus is continually going off to pray.  In the passage read today he gets up early to pray alone in a quiet place.  It is as if he daily renews his relationship with the Father by prayer.


Praying in the early morning behooves all of us.  At five or six in the morning we will not likely be distracted or interrupted.  We can use this time to order our day by asking the Spirit to guide us in fulfilling our various responsibilities.  And no matter whatever happens to us that day we know that we already done what is crucial – showing our love for God.