Luke 5:12-16
12 Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."
13 Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made clean." And the leprosy left him immediately.
14 Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."
15 The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments,
16 but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.
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I'm going to focus on verse 16. Excuse the length, this subject has been on my mind a lot lately.
There is a need to get away from the cares of the world around you and find solitude and quiet with God. Many times in the gospels, we see Christ withdrawing to pray, to commune with the Father, and to get re-charged. Consider that. Christ is the mediator through which everything was created, and HE needed to withdraw and pray.Today's world is so full of clutter, noise, and (in the end) meaningless activity, and all of those things are barriers between us and God. Satan has done a tremendous job of filling the world with distractions that we choose instead of seeking God. We need to withdraw to God and spend time with Him.
I've had moments in the past year where I've felt spiritually drained. I was discussing this with one of our priests a while ago, and he helped me to see something very important -- we cannot give away what we don't have. If I'm trying to help someone else grow spiritually and I haven't taken the time to allow God to feed my soul, then I'm not helping anyone. When that happens, I need to get back to basics -- Scripture, prayer, Reconciliation, and the Eucharist.
More and more, when I come to God in prayer, I'm trying to spend less time asking God for things, and more time "resting" in his presence -- just sitting quietly with him, and letting Him feed my soul. Some days I'm more successful at this than others, but on my best days, it's awesome.
There's nothing wrong with asking for things I think I need, but He knows what I need more than I do. If I spend my time approaching Him with an agenda, it's entirely possible that I'm more focused on what I want to do than what He wants me to do.
