Prayer...

Today's Gospel passage is from Luke 6:12-19.  It begins like this: "Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God."  Wait a minute, Jesus prayed?  Wasn't he God, though?  Why should he have to pray?  I am sure many of us have thought those questions before.  But we can look at it like this: Jesus spent some quality time, in quiet, talking to God the Father.  What a way to spend the entire night!  If only we had the time...

Jesus' prayer shows us that his will was completely and totally united to the Father's will.  Everything that Jesus did--preaching, teaching, rebuking, healing, etc.--was out of love for his Father.  And by praying, Jesus shows us we ought to pray...he gave the great prayer, Our Father, in which we speak to God the Father asking that our will be united to His.  This is our purpose: to accomplish our Father's will, to do what we ought, not necessarily what we want.  That takes a lot...and that is why Jesus showed us we need to pray.  Without prayer, we are truly lost. 

Why do I bring this up?  Well, I have been thinking about what God wants of me.  I know He wants me to love my wife, my daughter, my other family members and friends.  How do I go about doing that, though?  Where does love fit into work?  How can I love completely while taking care of Gianna and going to school in the evenings?  How do I love my wife as I ought to?  These are questions that I have pondered for quite some time and they continually come back to me. 

This upcoming weekend, I will have the chance to maybe get these questions answered, at least in part.  I will be spending most of the weekend in silence while at a retreat center that some friends of ours run in the solitude of southern Missouri.  My hope is to be committed to constant prayer.  The thought of going into the night with God in prayer is awesome...I don't know if I could make it the whole night, but my hope is that He will give me the grace to listen, as Jesus showed us how to listen to Him.

If you have the chance, please offer me up in your prayers this weekend, and my wife and daughter as well since they will be at home.  Please ask for the Holy Spirit to guide my thoughts, words, and actions so that I may give my full attention to our Heavenly Father and whatever He has planned for me. 

God bless you all, and have a happy feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary!