Today's readings are here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011112.cfm
In today's Gospel, Jesus is involved in the two actions that characterize his ministry: preaching and healing. It is through these that the Kingdom of God comes upon men and women, for both set people free from sin and its effects.
In the middle of all this preaching and healing, Jesus rises early, goes to a deserted place, and prays. Prayer was the center of Christ's life, for it was from his relationship with God the Father that he drew the strength to preach and heal. Now, if Christ, the divine Son of God, needed prayer, how much more do we who are mere mortals and sinners? Through our relationship (which is based on prayer) with God the Father in Christ, we find the strength to overcome sin and its greatest effect, death.
The foundation of prayer is the conviction that God totally and unconditionally loves us in Christ; therefore, he looks forward to conversing with us; God longs for our prayer more than we do. In fact, our prayer is always a response to God who draws us to pray. He is always in the position of initiator, and we are always in the position of responders. God ceaselessly draws us to prayer because he loves us and and wants to increase the Kingdom of God in us.
Let us, with confidence, draw near to God in prayer, knowing that he loves us and that Christ, our high priest, intercedes for us at the Father's right hand; and God the Father is more pleased with Christ's sacrifice than he is displeased with our sins.
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