Silent Realizations

A Reflection on the Gospel for February 7th, 2021:
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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​Mark
1.29-39

As soon as Jesus and his disciples left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told Jesus about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sunset, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.”

He answered, “Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And Jesus went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
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Pause. Pray.

And then read more...

In the past, reading of Jesus healing Peter's mother-in-law as well as all of the sick and afflicted who were brought to Him, always caught my attention. I saw Jesus’ love and compassion for the sick, tired though He may have been. I also always noticed that the mother-in-law lost no time in serving them upon being healed. I saw her gratitude and her servant’s heart. 

Now as I go through this passage again, I still see all that, and still realize that our love for Him will inspire us to serve our God, especially when He answers our prayers and heals us. 

But this time around, my attention seems to have focussed more on the second part of the reading: Jesus praying. If Jesus, the Son of God, needs to pray to His Father, shouldn’t I, all the more, need to pray too? He went to a secluded place to pray and listen to His Father. I may be good at the praying part, but I must admit that I score low on the listening part.

It is not that I don’t listen. I do... I mean, I try to! However the busyness of life has exacted its toll on my prayer time. What is especially challenging, is the prayer time that is spent in silence. Is He talking to me and I can’t hear? Or is He talking to me and I don’t listen? Another thought that often comes to mind is, “Is this silence long enough?”

This has been the subject of many of my prayer times, asking God to teach me to listen. I tried allotting at first 10 minutes, then 15, then 20 minutes to my prayer time, but I felt that I was putting God on a schedule. What if He wanted to speak to me in the twenty-second minute and I was no longer listening? 

God, in His loving, merciful, and understanding way, has taken pity on His servant, and in many ways has opened my eyes to see, my ears to hear, my mind to think, and my heart to feel. I see His answers to my prayers through many different events in my life. I hear and understand beyond the words that are spoken. I think thoughts that I wouldn’t have thought of by myself. Most of all, I have developed compassion for those around me. I don’t do these things 100% of the time — I am still a work in progress.

So, what about my times of silence? Yes, I have them, but now I no longer think they are unproductive. They are times of realizations, of deeper thoughts and resolutions and yes, silence, rest, and peace.

These lines from a poem came to mind which best illustrate how I feel:

“And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep”

(Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost)




Liz Venezuela
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