After reflecting on the gospel, the line that jumped out at me being a busy young professional is the verse – “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”  Silence can get us in touch with the feelings and thoughts inside that we often don’t pay attention to.

We all have deserted places – it could be our frustration, our pain, our grief, our brokenness and our own wilderness where many of us are trying to escape. We have deserted places in our lives and most of us don’t like it.  The deserted and empty places that can be frightening and we are trying to avoid.

Many of us have already activities that we do in order to claim ourselves, and take time out of the day to renew our bodies and our minds.  In the busy time of our lives, our accomplishments and happiness don’t matter no more because we are confronted with our failures and sorrows.  In time of our restlessness we need to recharge ourselves and our spiritual being to recognize Jesus once again.  Time in the deserted place is a matter of life and inconvenience.  However, this is also the place where our deepest healing can be treated.  Jesus visits the deserted places of our lives to reach our hands, in order to reach our hands and draw us near to the heart of God.  When we are in the deserted place and difficult times of our lives we must recognize the presence of God and take time to pray and go to the nearness of God. We have to take time in listening to His voice.  To listen in the midst of silence and to be thankful to Him, as we show our profound gratitude for all the grace we have received regardless of how great and small it is.  In addition, in silence we must also recognize the goodness and generosity of the Lord.

Hear the good news and absorb it from the heart.  Connect ourselves and our lives to the life of God by the power of prayers.  Taking time in prayer so is to encounter the Lord and have an honest conversation with Him.  When the grace of God touches us, we too find a new energy that we don’t even know that we have it since before, where in fact we can use so as to serve our brothers and sisters.  And to feel that the most beautiful relationship is the connection we have with God.  Go to the deserted places of our lives and there we find Jesus, praying together with us.  Look forward in faith and trust that God is with us always.

Source: Neo Jeremiah Voice of the Young Prophet Newsletter – February 4, 2018 issue.