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Gospel: Luke 4:38-44
After Jesus left the synagogue, he entered the house of Simon.
Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a severe fever,
and they interceded with him about her.
He stood over her, rebuked the fever, and it left her.
She got up immediately and waited on them.
At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases
brought them to him.
He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.
And demons also came out from many, shouting, “You are the Son of God.”
But he rebuked them and did not allow them to speak
because they knew that he was the Christ.
At daybreak, Jesus left and went to a deserted place.
The crowds went looking for him, and when they came to him,
they tried to prevent him from leaving them.
But he said to them, “To the other towns also
I must proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God,
because for this purpose I have been sent.”
And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Tying yesterday and today’s Gospel passages together, we discover a full day in the life of Jesus.
The Lord began his day in the synagogue, where he cast out an unclean spirit from a man, revealing Christ’s power of evil.
“After lunch,” Jesus enters Simon Peter’s home, where he heals Simon’s mother-in-law who is deathly ill.
Then he continues his ministry into the evening. As we hear in today’s Gospel, “At sunset, all who had people sick with various diseases brought them to Jesus. He laid his hands on each of them and cured them.”
I’d imagine by night, the Lord was exhausted.
But early the next morning – before dawn – Jesus is up and out, finding a quiet place to pray.
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Prayer is what sustained him. It’s also what should sustain us.
Think of prayer as another word for relationship. Everything that you do to enrich your relationship with God – from studying his Word, to serving him in your neighbor is prayer.
But the most important form of prayer is that one-on-one, heart-to-heart time with God, which the Lord shows us today is best found, “very early before dawn,” before other obligations or demands of the day take over.
I’ve been fortunate to pray at least an hour a day before dawn for the last fifteen years. It’s transformed my life.
But, over time, God can do wonderous, mysterious things in your heart with just a few simple minutes.
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Give Jesus time “before dawn,” and slowly, you’ll find you’ve become more and more like him, “who first loved us and gave himself for us.”
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Image credits: (1) Vecteezy (2) Pantocrator, Sinai (3) 123 RF