Wednesday of week 22 in Ordinary Time
Gospel: Luke 4:38-44In today’s Gospel, Jesus spends Himself completely in the service of others: He heals Simon’s mother-in-law, receives the sick who are brought to Him, cures many, and sets people free from evil. Yet when daylight comes, “He left the house and made his way to a lonely place.” This withdrawal is not an escape from His mission but the very source of it. In solitude, Jesus remains in intimate communion with the Father, and from that relationship He receives the strength and freedom to continue His mission rather than simply respond to the expectations of the crowd. When the people try to prevent Him from leaving, He knows that He must go forward: “I must proclaim the Good News of the kingdom of God to the other towns too, because that is what I was sent to do.” The same pattern is essential for every disciple. Mission without prayer can easily become mere activity, and service without communion with God can lead to exhaustion or loss of direction. We need our own “lonely place,” moments in which we withdraw from noise, demands, and responsibilities simply to remain with the Father. There we rediscover who we are, why we have been sent, and where God is calling us next. Prayer does not take us away from mission; it gives us the grace to go forward. The deeper our communion with the Father, the freer and more fruitful our service becomes. Let’s reflect: Do I make space for a “lonely place” with the Father, allowing prayer to renew my strength, clarify my mission, and give me the grace to go forward?
Don Giorgio