When Jesus prayed on this occasion, he went to a dark, deserted place (Mark 1.29-39). When he taught his disciples about prayer, he taught them to pray in secret with the door closed so they couldn’t be seen by others (Matthew 6.5-6).
While there is a place for public prayer, personal prayer is not for public consumption as it is something that happens directly between ourselves and God. In addition, as we see in this story of Jesus’ ministry, it is personal prayer undertaken in secret, hidden places that is what fuels public ministry.
Jesus knew that he could not carry out his public ministry without time spent in private prayer, that is why he gets up early in the morning and goes to a quiet place away from others in order to pray. It is not important that we imitate Jesus in the specifics of when and where he prays but it is important that we prioritise prayer in the way that he does and find our own times for private prayer as well as finding our own hidden, secret places in which to pray.
So, reflect for a moment on the times and places where you are able to pray.
A saying that has come to us from the Desert Fathers and Mothers, hermits, monks and nuns who lived mainly in the Scetes desert of Egypt beginning around the third century AD, is this: ‘Stay in your cell. Your cell will teach you everything’. The idea is that being in conversation with God through prayer will teach us everything we need to know. For this reason, when he was interviewed once by Radio 4 and was asked which wilderness he would go to for Lent if he could be taken anywhere in world, the Archbishop of York replied that he would stay in his own living room. The location for our prayer is not the main point (although quiet and privacy will help); instead, the point is the quality and depth of our prayer.
From the mid-1920s onwards, Evelyn Underhill became highly-regarded as a retreat conductor and an influential spiritual director. Much of her ministry was undertaken at our own Diocesan Retreat House in Pleshey.
In her book on The Fruits of The Spirit, she wrote, in relation to retreats, about Jesus’ injunction to shut the door and pray in secret:
“Christ, who so seldom gave detailed instruction about anything, did give some detailed instruction of that … recollection which is the essential condition of real prayer, real communion with God.
"When you pray, go into a room by yourself - and shut the door." I think we can almost see the smile with which He said those three words, and those three words define what we have to try to do. Anyone can retire into a quiet place and have a thoroughly unquiet time in it - but that is not … the shutting of the door …
Shut the door. It is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Nearly everyone pulls it to and leaves it slightly ajar so that a whistling draught comes in from the outer world, with reminders of all the worries, interests, conflicts, joys and sorrows of daily life.
But Christ said shut and He meant shut. A complete barrier deliberately set up, with you on one side alone with God and everything else without exception on the other side. The voice of God is very gentle; we cannot hear it if we let other voices compete. It is no use at all to enter that room, that inner sanctuary, clutching the daily paper, the reports of all the societies you support, your engagement book and a large bundle of personal correspondence. All these must be left outside.
The object … is not intercession or self-exploration, but such communion with Him as shall afterwards make you more powerful in intercession; such self loss in Him as shall heal your wounds by new contact with His life and love.”
Jesus’ words were addressed to ordinary people going about their everyday lives, so his call to shut the door when praying was for each time we pray. Seeking the opportunity of being alone with God and attending to God in order that we may do His will better in our everyday lives was intended by Jesus as a regular experience. The distractions Evelyn Underhill notes are with us each time we pray. We need to face them each time we pray. Jesus said, ‘whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ Our reward will be, as Evelyn Underhill wrote, ‘real communion with God.’
So, reflect again for a moment on the times and places where you are able to genuinely shut the door and be in quiet and in peace as you pray.
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Lavine Hudson - Create In Me.
