5 February 2022
Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr
In the Gospel reading today the Lord welcomes those followers he sent out as missionaries to prepare the ground for his coming to them. He invites these early missionaries to step away from the ordinary daily activities that demand their attention and spend some restful time with him.
Doesn’t this advice tell me that being alone in a special way with Jesus, I must find a place where I can momentarily turn off all the exterior and interior noises that capture my attention?
Real silence is necessary sometime during the day in order to separate prayer in action from prayer in contemplation, and unless I have some contemplative prayer during each day, my prayer in action will dry up. Silence is needed for such a personal encounter with the Lord.
But Jesus shows me in today’s Gospel that contemplative prayer does not mean cutting myself off from others. In the midst of being alone with his disciples, he noticed the crowds following him. “He pitied them . . . and began to teach them at great length.” That’s active prayer.
So, following him away from the crowds, he teaches me that my private prayer with him should make me more attentive to the needs of others. who “are like sheep without a shepherd.” How true that is of so many people I encounter today. Lord, never let me forget my personal prayer should never be without attending to the needs of others.
Finally, today is the feast of St. Agatha, a young girl, who was martyred becoming the patron of young girls and, for some reason, the patron of nurses. Who has greater need of prayers than girls and nurses in our society today! I will ask St. Agatha to watch over in a special way our future missionary young girls and our present overworked nurses.