Prayer is How We Abide

"Everyone is asking for you." Mark 1:37

Can you imagine how many people were looking for Jesus? Huge crowds of people from all over would follow him. Some came to gawk because of the miracles. The deaf, dumb, blind and lame would be healed. Then there were the demon possessed who would for sure add to all the commotion and noise around. It's a wonder Jesus would get any time to sleep and rest. 

In Matthew 1:35, we read that after all the work of healing and ministering, Jesus did get some sleep, but He woke long before daybreak and went out alone into the wilderness to pray. It was very important for Him to connect with His Father. This shows me how important, how very essential prayer is. Prayer is not the work of women only, not the work of sissies or weak people. Prayer is necessary if we want to get the job done, if we want to get our marching orders, if we want things to happen! 

Prayer is how we "abide". In John 15:4-10, Jesus instructs us to abide in Him if we want to bear much fruit. Father Michael Scanlan died at the age of 85 in 2017.  He helped revitalize the Catholic faith, and was called "the giant in our midst". He led so many into a deeper relationship with Christ and openness to the Holy Spirit. He is an example of what can happen if we abide in God, and become men and women of prayer. Sister Ann Shields said he was always in prolonged prayer. Father Davis said that he would have his daily planner open and he would ask God what he should do very early in the morning. 

Father Scanlan shared in his book, "Let the Fire Fall", that while walking through a hotel lobby in Michigan, he noticed a young boy screaming and rolling around the floor. A crowd was gathering much like it would have gathered around Jesus. Father Michael heard God asking him to pray for the boy for total healing. He was astonished because he suspected the boy had Down Syndrome, which is a genetic defect. Every cell in the boy's body had an extra chromosome! But God asked him to pray and he did! That young boy was healed and when doctors ran tests they could not find any trace of Down Syndrome in his body!

Father, may we learn to abide in You. May we be intimately connected to You. May we, like Jesus, learn to listen to You and obey You.