“Prayer begins by talking to God, but it ends by listening to Him. In the face of Absolute Truth, silence is the soul’s language.”

“We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence... We need silence to be able to touch souls.”--Mother Teresa

(Gospel Text: Mk 6:30-34)

The Apostles gathered together with Jesus

and reported all they had done and taught.

He said to them,

“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”

People were coming and going in great numbers,

and they had no opportunity even to eat.

So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.

People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.

They hastened there on foot from all the towns

and arrived at the place before them.

When Jesus disembarked and saw the vast crowd,

his heart was moved with pity for them,

for they were like sheep without a shepherd;

and he began to teach them many things.

A good question to reflect on today is why do you pray? 

A first response may be, because it is the right thing to do or because I was taught to pray growing up and have continued that habit.  Look deeper though, really why do YOU pray?  Something draws us in to prayer, something that may not make sense to us, something beyond us, something bigger than each one of us.  That something is God. 

In the Gospel reading the people in the crowd similarly felt drawn to Jesus.  They may not have understood why, but they followed Jesus, they were drawn to him.  The Gospel says, “They were like sheep without a shepherd.” (Mark 6:34)  Jesus is our shepherd, He is the “object” we are drawn to whether we realize it or not.  St. Augustine says, “You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O Lord.”  Through Jesus Christ’s presence among each one of us, especially in the Eucharist, we are drawn to God where we find truth and happiness, just like the apostles and crowds were drawn to follow Jesus 2000 years ago.

Everything we are, every gift we have is from God.  Let us try our best to live our lives knowing that and offering our lives back to God in praise. 

The next time you spend some quiet time in prayer, do not merely say “words”, but try to enter into a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Listen to him (LK 9:35), let Jesus speak to your heart.

Then take that prayer, that relationship, and implement it into your daily life.