Alone to Pray – Reflection on Luke 6:12-19
When I am in a situation that requires a weighty decision, I make the time to disconnect from my change my daily routines.to pray. This extended period typically means hiking in the forest, distant from worldly influence. I partially do so because Jesus did the same thing when He needed to make big decisions. One example is when Jesus went to the mountain to pray about choosing the twelve apostles from the many followers. Being alone to pray can let us spiritually be more in touch with divinity and bring quiet to our minds. Troubles can dissipate, Christian intuitions increase, and we are more available for Jesus’s presence to help make the decision more manageable.
Ordaining of the Twelve Apostles by James Tissot (full resolution image of painting).
More details are available on the Brooklyn Museum website.
Additional Ordinary Time Reflections
Luke 6:12-19 – Scripture*
Jesus Chooses the Twelve Apostles
12 Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Simon, who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
Jesus Teaches and Heals
17 He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.
Additional Thoughts
Thank you for meditating on this Gospel and reading this Lectio Divina on Lectio Divina Luke 6:12-19 Reflection – Alone to Pray.
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Prayer for young families:
Lord, let the young families of our communities experience your joy, peace, comfort, and love despite the world’s distractions.
Attributions
This site has written permission to use the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) Bible Luke 6 Bible passage.
The Immersive Prayer website follows the guidelines for image web use at the Brooklyn Museum and the Jewish Museum websites.
Primary Lectio Divina word or phrase: Alone to pray
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Discussion group on St. John of the Cross.