Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
First reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Second reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel of Mark 1:29-39

According to Mark, today is the first day of Jesus’ public ministry, which is filled with teaching and healing. Every time we read the gospels we are faced with this one single question. What was the source of Jesus’ extraordinary power to heal and to teach? I believe it was Jesus’ deep intimate relationship with his Father, to whom he turns in prayer. Throughout his public life, Jesus centres himself in prayer in order to minister more effectively to those who seek him. With this background I wish to reflect with you today on the theme of “Personal-Prayer”.

Today’s gospel scene shows Jesus in action during a typical day at Capernaum. All day long people come to him with their many needs, and he gives tirelessly of himself to all. And this is repeated day after day. Jesus is constantly on the move. Yet, he doesn’t seem to undergo what we call in modern practice the ‘burnout syndrome’. He seems to have an endless reservoir of energy. What is the source of all that energy? What is the secret of this man’s spiritual power? What is it that provides him with a constantly renewed supply of patience, love, compassion, and tenderness?

Day after day we are full of activity. Our days are jam-packed with appointments, meetings, sessions, socials, etc. We hardly have time to meet God in a heart to heart encounter, as a friend meets a friend for some quiet time together. During the day we may quickly say a few vocal prayers once or twice a day and that’s it. Naturally, we feel empty inside, dried up deep within. And, we end up saying “I am so busy, and I can’t find time to pray”.

Maybe, Jesus is asking us this fundamental question? What is my attitude toward prayer? When we say, “We can’t find time to pray,” what we are actually saying, is that, after we have taken care of all we want to do, we say that there is no time left for prayer. In other words, prayer is the last item in our agenda and it is regularly crowded by other things, which we consider more important. And that is where we make the big mistake.

A Christian should not think in terms of finding time for prayer, because that will never work. A Christian should think of making time for prayer. This means that prayer becomes the first item in my agenda. It’s like fish and water. Fish cannot survive without water. Prayer is the oxygen of my soul. Without prayer my soul begins to suffocate. When we adopt this kind of attitude, prayer will never be a problem. It is all a question of priorities. Once we decide that prayer will be our number one priority, everything else falls into place.

Once we know this secret, then it will be amazing to see how we can achieve many things, with less effort, in a day. Prayer – a heart to heart encounter with God. When we pray, it is as if God takes things in His hands. When we pray: God enters our lives and makes us far more effective than before. He also fills us with his peace and his joy. And thus, God becomes our hidden source of strength, our secret reservoir of vitality, our wellspring of energy.

The big crowd that came looking for Jesus that morning went home disappointed. They did not find him. Why? Because they were looking for him for the wrong reasons. They were looking for Jesus simply to get what they wanted; they were not interested in what Jesus had to offer.

Jesus knew that he could not live without prayer, because his teaching and healing ministry drained him of power. For example, the woman who had touched Jesus’ garment was instantly healed, Mark remarks: “Jesus knew that power had gone out of him” (Mk. 5:30). In prayer Jesus gained God’s power. The “deserted place” to which Jesus resorted was not actually a desert. Rather, it was a place where he could be free from distractions - a place where he could give himself totally to God. As missionaries let us carry with us Jesus and the fruit of our prayer by letting ourselves be gripped by the mystery of Christ. Let us guide God’s people entrusted to our care to Jesus by letting ourselves, in turn, be guided by Him. This is what we must be: guided guides.