Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 7, 2021
Jesus departed to the mountain to pray,
and he spent the night in prayer to God.
When day came, he called his disciples to himself,
and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named Apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew,
James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,
Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus,
Simon who was called a Zealot,
and Judas the son of James,
and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground.
A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon
came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;
and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured.
Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him
because power came forth from him and healed them all.
During Lent of 2020, just as lockdowns and closures were beginning, I thought that it would be a good opportunity for me to focus on prayer, one of the three core, traditional practices of the liturgical season. Since I would not be able to see friends, going out to serve would be complicated, and since I was able to teach from home with a more flexible schedule, I thought I would have plenty of time to beef up my prayer life.
As it turned out, having an abundance of time in my schedule for prayer didn’t actually make me pray more. It was a priority problem: prayer wasn’t that high on my list of things to do, and I allowed teaching online, worrying about COVID, my sourdough starter, and all the rest to fill in my schedule and crowd out my prayer life.
In today’s reading, we hear that Jesus took time to pray before moments such as calling his 12 Apostles and healing the multitudes. He even sacrificed sleep to make time for God. Certainly sleep is important, but could we sacrifice even a small amount of it, maybe just 15 minutes, for God? What else in our lives could we give up to hand over just a sliver of our day to God? What things are we allowing to be higher priorities than prayer and connection with God?
Here’s an invitation for us: we could pick a time for prayer, block it out, and treat it like an appointment we can’t miss. When we show up every day, we’ll see where God takes us. Making time for prayer prepared Jesus for making his selection the Apostles who are the foundation of the Church. Spending time in prayer will help us to be ready for all of the things that life throws our way.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you spent a night in prayer before you announced your disciples and the beginning of our Church. The Twelve placed their faith, hope and trust in both God and man. May I join this group in all its fullness: faith in Jesus Christ, hope in His mercy and trust in His provident care. I ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
St. Cloud was the son of French royalty—caught up in political machinations that cost his brothers their lives, he fled the court to spend his life handing on the faith.
Clodoald—or “Cloud” as we know him in English—was the youngest of four grandsons of the great king Clovis, and his grandmother was St. Clotilde. After Clovis died, his kingdom was eventually split among his grandsons, and because they were too young to rule, the country was governed by an uncle.
When Cloud was 8 years old, the ruling uncle fell into a scheme to dispose of these heirs and to assume the kingship for himself. Cloud escaped, but his brothers were killed.
When he matured, Cloud made no claims to the throne, and sought out the life of a hermit. He became a follower of St. Severinus, a hermit who lived near Paris. Later, Cloud moved to Nogent and the place where he settled is now called “Saint-Cloud” (a sister city in Minnesota bears the same name). He spent the rest of his life teaching the faith to people who lived nearby and was sought out for his advice. When it was clear that his attempts at solitude were not working, he followed the wishes of the people and returned to Paris, where he was ordained a priest and led the faithful. St. Cloud died in 560 when he was 36.
St. Cloud, you fled a murderous, political family and found a life of faithfulness and service—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of St. Cloud is in the public domain. Last accessed April 3, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
