“And having sent the people away, he went up to the mountain to pray. At nightfall, he was there alone.” Jesus, although he is God, draws his strength by communicating to his Father in silence and solitude. In this way, he listens to the will of the Father for him.
The mountain is the place where we find stillness and peace. Most of us have learned to turn aside from our busy life from time to time to come in contact with God’s presence in nature. Gazing at the beauty of nature – the vast lands, lush trees, green plants, naturally formed rocks and even the insects that crawl on the ground – fills us with awe and wonder at God’s creation. Seeing a tree full of fireflies shining with their sparkling bright light on a dark night makes us feel God’s grandeur. If these creatures are so beautiful, how much more the God who created them. We join the psalmist in saying “Yahweh, what variety you have created, arranging everything so wisely! Earth is completely full of things You have made.”
To quote Fr. Maloney, S.J.: “Modern man needs to turn into his ‘heart’ and in silence, he must enter deeply into himself and hear his true self, the Absolute Ground of all being tell him through experiential knowledge, through enlightenment, that the world of senses is not the totality of reality, but through an experience man understands that he is one with all being.”
