Click here to read the daily readings from the USCCB website.

"Rising very early before dawn, 
he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed."

This line from the Gospel has been very formative in my life, and I hope the lives of everyone involved in active ministry, and I hope the lives of all period.

In the midst of His public ministry, in the middle of calling apostles, curing the sick, raising the dead and so forth, Jesus made time to spend in prayer. The first time I considered this reality, it struck me as surprising. Isn't Jesus God? Why does He need to take time out of His busy day to pray? 

Now there's a lot we can't understand about the relationship between Jesus's divine and human natures, but it's clear that despite Jesus's divinity He made time to spend with His Father... like any good Son, but even more so!

Jesus probably didn't  need to pray, but the fact that He did means that He wanted to! Jesus came from the Father and He wanted to spend time with Him who loves Him. Jesus wanted to pray and He wanted to model a good prayer life for us. Because we certainly  do need to pray!

I heard a story once about Mother Teresa and her nuns. They were getting inundated with the needs of the poor around them and more and more of their time was taken up. One of the sisters approached Mother and said, "We're going to have to spend less time in prayer in order to keep up with all of these people!"

Mother wisely corrected her, "No, sister. We must double our prayer." Mother Teresa was a firm believer and an unwavering witness that the busier you are, the more time you must set aside for prayer. It's the only way that we can get the strength and grace from God that we need. Otherwise we run the risk trying to do everything by our own strength.

Jesus shows us the power of prayer. It is through His deep life of prayer that he drives out demons and heals the sick and infirmed. 

What would He enable you to do?

Rise and go to a deserted place and  pray.