The Catholic Calendar for Friday, October 28, 2005
Friday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
St. Simon and St. Jude, apostles

Scripture from today's Liturgy of the Word:
Ephesians 2:19-22
Psalm 19:2-5
Luke 6:12-16

A reflection on today's Sacred Scripture:

". . . And he spent the night in prayer to God."

Jesus retired a little from the world and went up on a mountain to pray to God. Why? He had a huge, literally earth-shaking decision to make. From His followers He had to select the core group with whom He would trust the good news of His revelation to the world.

One would think that Jesus, being God, would know,without consultation what to do. But here we have the example of the full humanness of the incarnate Godhead. We also have the example of what we are to do in like circumstances. How often do we spend an entire night, or its equivalent in prayer? And why a night, why not a day? A day has its work--you can retire from it and try to cut yourself out and do the same work that you could get done at night, but the press of the issues of the day--even so minor as concerns about traffic, about finances, about health, etc. press in upon you. At night things are somewhat different. There is a clarity that comes from silence all around, from the deep stillness of your environment.

In this silence, the voice of God may be more clearly heard. The concerns of the day have passed, there is no one pressing upon you the concerns of a new day. So you are free to take your primary cares to God and implore His help.

Let us pray for the strength always to go to God with these concerns and worries. Let us pray for the strength to pray through the night for all things that affect us. And let us thank God for the provision He makes that we may always know Him thus--in silence, in stillness, and in the heart.

- JuandelaCruz
(http://floscarmeli.stblogs.org/)