St. Paul’s Cycle of Prayer – Monday – Children, youth, and family ministries of St. Paul’s and those who teach and work with our youth. Our music program and choirs.

(click Prayer Instructions for links to Morning or Evening Prayer for today)

Today’s Gospel lesson continues in the first chapter of Mark. What a chapter! It takes your breath away. It begins with John the Baptist, then the baptism of Jesus, then the temptations in the desert, then healing Peter’s mother-in-law, then healing countless sick and demon possessed. That’s in the first 34 verses!

Does your life feel like that sometimes? Rushing from one thing to the next, always something else to do, someone else who needs you, some response to make, we can relate at least to the frenetic nature of Jesus’ life thus far in Mark’s Gospel. But the next part we seem not to relate to as much: “35-37While it was still night, way before dawn, he got up and went out to a secluded spot and prayed. Simon and those with him went looking for him. They found him and said, “Everybody’s looking for you.”

Jesus needed to refuel, he needed some time alone with God. We see this repeated over and over in the Gospels. A secluded spot. Prayer. Even the Son of God needed such. Don’t we all?