Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time [2012]

"In the morning, long before dawn, 

he got up and left the house 

and went off to a lonely place and prayed there. " 

- Mark 1:35

One of the most important things in every relationship is constant communications. It is hard to keep any relationship without communications. The motto of the Family Rosary Crusade, "The family that prays together stays together" is one expression of this - even if the members of the family may not be physically together, they will still be together through prayers. Families who are separated due to various reasons try to keep united through various means - before through snail mail, telephone calls and friends. Now we have many other ways of communicating especially with the advent of cellular phones and the Internet.

If we understand and value having constant communications with the people we love here on earth we should also understand and value having constant communications with God through prayers. 

Jesus our Lord never neglected the importance of keeping His communication lines open with the Father for prayer is our way of communicating with God the Father. He would always find time to pray in solitude even if it has to be in the very early hours of the day and of course during the entire day when He would do miracles and signs He would communicate with the Father.

As children of the Father and friends of the Lord Jesus Christ we also ought to keep communicating with them. It would keep us from sin and temptations if we constantly relate with God. We also have to develop our relationships with other members of the family of God, the Church, including the ones we consider to be Church Triumphant, the Saints, and the Church Suffering, those in purgatory. We also have to be constantly communicating with our guardian angels to keep us from spiritual, and at times physical, harm.

May we never disregard this important instrument of being one with God and the whole Church. Even the Lord Jesus Christ said that whatever we ask God the Father in prayer through His name the Father would give. St James also  encourages to pray for one another for the prayer of holy persons is very effective. St Paul encourages us to pray constantly. The late Jaime Cardinal Sin of Manila said, "God is omnipotent but prayer is more omnipotent!"