“Rising early in the morning before dawn, he went out and went to a deserted place, where he prayed” (Mark 1:35).
This verse is from the Gospel of Mark, one of the three synoptic gospels. The Gospel of Mark is attributed to Saint Mark the Evangelist and is believed to be the first written Gospel.
“Although he was not a direct disciple of Jesus, Saint Mark is the author of one of the four gospel stories and played a vital role in spreading the gospel as a missionary in the early church,” says the website for the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
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The fact that Jesus went off to pray alone may seem unnecessary, said Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, a Dominican friar based in Washington, D.C.
After all, Briscoe said, “couldn't He always talk to the Father?”
Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, a Dominican friar based in Washington, DC, revealed why Jesus went to pray and what the faithful can learn from that holy act described in the Gospel of Mark. (iStock/P. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP)
Praying alone “doesn't seem like the kind of thing, strictly speaking, that would be necessary,” he said.
“There are also even bigger questions. Many times when we pray, we ask for certain things to happen in the future. Shouldn't Jesus, with his divine knowledge, know what is to come?” Briscoe said.
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“And besides, couldn't He just do whatever He wanted thanks to His divine power?”
Christ, according to Christian tradition, had a divine will and a human will, and these wills were distinct, Briscoe said.
Prayer “is about uniting our wills with God, about embracing for our lives what God wants for us.” (iStock)
“That is why, for example, Jesus works in the garden of Gethsemane, knowing in his human will that his coming death would require courage and perseverance,” he said.
Prayer, Briscoe said, “is about uniting our wills with God, about embracing for our lives what God wants for us.”
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He added: “Archbishop Fulton Sheen says: 'Prayer begins by speaking to God, but ends by listening to Him. In the face of the Absolute Truth, silence is the language of the soul.'”
Then “we learn, in prayer, to desire in our own strength the happiness and peace that God desires for us,” Briscoe said.
Jesus' prayer is a model for humanity: it demonstrates what people can do to strengthen their relationship with God, said a Dominican friar. (iStock)
“But Jesus also prays for another reason. He prays because he knows that some things will only be accomplished in prayer. God, in his providence, commands some things to happen only because people pray for them.”
Some things, he said, “will only happen because God wants us to pray for them. Every single one of us.”
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Jesus' act of prayer also serves as a model for humanity, Briscoe said.
“Jesus is our teacher, our master. And we are called to follow him. And He knew it, and that is why he left us an example of his prayer.” (iStock)
“Jesus is our teacher, our teacher. And we are called to follow him. And He knew it, and that is why he left us an example of his prayer,” he said.
With Christ, the way of prayer opens for the world, Briscoe said.
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“He himself is the path that leads us to the Father,” he said. “He models how to approach the Father, how to seek Him and spend time with Him.”
“That's what prayer is at its core: a loving relationship.”
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