The Necessity of Prayer

Gospel Reflection for Sept. 10th, 2024 - Luke 6:12-19

Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.

Today’s Gospel in Luke shows us what steps Jesus takes to prepare Himself before He makes some big decisions, and does some spiritual heavy lifting. He finds a suitable place, at the mountain, presumably an out of the way spot without distractions and He spends the entire night in prayer.

We don’t get to know the words that Jesus prays to the Father that night but we do see the value He placed on ensuring that He did in fact pray. We see the importance Jesus places on preparing Himself before pouring out of Himself again to a large number of people. We see the weight He places on prayer, being in conversation with the Father, before making the decision to call the 12 apostles.

We can gather from this scene that prayer is essential to our Christian life. It equips us, reminds us who we are and whose we are, it is a weapon of faith and a consolation during difficulties, it is an act of humility and surrender to God’s will over our own.

In short, we need prayer to persevere in our Christian faith, to nourish our souls, to enlighten our intellect, and to equip our hearts.

So just as Jesus shows us in Luke today, let us turn to the Lord in prayer, ask for His blessing, ask for His help, seek His will in both big and little decisions, and surrender our will to His, allowing Him to move in us and through us.

Some quotes from the saints about prayer:

“Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God” St. John Damascene

“Prayer is the oxygen of the soul” St. Padre Pio

“For me, prayer is an aspiration of the heart, it is a simple glance directed to heaven, it is a cry of gratitude and love in the midst of trial as well as joy; finally it is something great, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites me to Jesus” St. Therese of Lisieux

“Prayer is the place of refuge for every worry, a foundation for cheerfulness, a source of constant happiness, a protection against sadness.” St. John Chrysostom

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