Luke 5: 12-16
Once, when Jesus was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, “Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.” Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I do choose. Be made clean.”
Immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one. “Go,” he said, “and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.”
But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
Framing Our Day With Prayer
In today’s Gospel Jesus heals the man with leprosy, which gives way to Jesus preaching and healing many. Yet there is more, because it is too easy to pass over the ending statement, “…but he (Jesus) would withdraw to deserted places to pray.”
The life of Jesus is a testament to the necessity of prayer. Each of the four Gospels reveals Jesus praying before, during, and after important events, such as: calling the twelve apostles and giving the Sermon on the Mount; during the unfolding Paschal mysteries of his gift of himself in the Eucharist, his passion and death; and many other times. The life of Jesus reveals the necessary and vital cycle of prayer proceeding healings and evangelization, followed by additional periods of revitalizing prayer.
Ponder, how often do I pray during the day? Does prayer frame my life from the start of the day, during various moments in day, and at the close of the day?
—Russ Long is a Montessori educator, teacher-trainer, and writer. He attends St. Peter Catholic Church, the Jesuit parish in the Diocese of Charlotte, NC.
Prayer
Good Jesus, grant me the grace to live a life of frequent prayer during the entire course of my day: its beginning, middle and end. Amen.
—Russ Long
Pray with the Pope
Pray with the monthly prayer intentions of the pope.