Today's gospel is a preacher's dream. He can focus on Peter's in laws as well as on yours and mine or he can direct his attention to the sick whom Christ cured or to the demons he sent packing. Pushed a little, the preacher could develop the disciples' hopes that Christ would cash in on his popularity because everybody was looking for him.
For me it is a different sentence from this gospel that keeps ringing in my ears. 'In the morning, long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.' If Jesus needed to set aside time to be alone in prayer with the Father, how much more do I need to do just that? 'Lord, so many things claim our attention and preoccupy us - our work or the lack of it, our security or its elusiveness, our wants that we turn into needs, our recreations that only distract us, our anxieties about our weaknesses. From all these help us to turn aside to be alone with you sometimes each day. Lord teach us to pray!'
For me it is a different sentence from this gospel that keeps ringing in my ears. 'In the morning, long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place and prayed there.' If Jesus needed to set aside time to be alone in prayer with the Father, how much more do I need to do just that? 'Lord, so many things claim our attention and preoccupy us - our work or the lack of it, our security or its elusiveness, our wants that we turn into needs, our recreations that only distract us, our anxieties about our weaknesses. From all these help us to turn aside to be alone with you sometimes each day. Lord teach us to pray!'
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