Sunday, January 11, 2015

1/14/2015 – Wednesday of the 1st week in Ordinary Time - Mark 1:29-39

       We are back in Ordinary Time after journeying through the seasons of Advent and Christmas.  Today, we hear about Jesus being very busy as he goes from village to village, bring asked to heal the sick and to being pulled in many different directions. One sentence called out to me in the midst of Jesus' busy activity: “Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”  We all need to take time to pray, to be with God, and to listen to him.  With my pilgrimage to Spain less than two weeks away, this sentence calls out to me today.  There is a man I met on the Camino back in 2012 who sent me a message on Facebook when he saw that he was going back to the Camino again.  He has a very busy work life, but he takes time each year to go on the Camino to walk with God and hear him speaking to him in his life.  He has been doing this for over a decade.  This is my third time going on the Camino, but my first time was way back in 2003.  It took me 9 years to make it the second time.  Of course, I had to take time to go to seminary and to start my service as a priest in the Diocese of Jackson.  Anyone who knows me knows how I love pilgrimage.  It speaks to me and I feel God’s presence in a very real way along the pilgrimage trail.  The Road to Santiago de Compostela is one of the holiest places I have been.  
       We all need to find something like that in our lives, a place to get away and to find God.  We need to slow down and make space for God in our lives. It may sound strange to some, but I feel the Camino beckoning me.  It is good to hear God calling out to us in our lives.  How is he doing that today?

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