Image by Avi Chomotovski from Pixabay

“Quiet the mind, and the soul will speak.” – Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati

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Luke 6:12-13

In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles.

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Once again, we see Jesus give us the example of going to a quiet place to pray.

He modeled the instructions that he gave his followers: “Go to your inner room” (Matthew 6:6).

As St. John of the Cross wrote in the 16^th century: “Silence is God’s first language.”

I have no doubt that Jesus prayed through some form of meditation.

It was a wordless communion with God who is among and within you.

It is the God in whom we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

From this place of deep inner-communion, Jesus knew who to select for his apostles.

And who did he pick?

Quite a motley crew!

They were diverse, not educated, not very organized, and not the most likeable bunch.

Included in this group of the select was Judas, the one who would betray Jesus.

Jesus did not pick only people who thought like him and acted like him.

And, let’s face it, it wasn’t just a group of men.

Women were a part of this little traveling commune.

How scandalous!

And included in this eyebrow-raising-brood – was Mary of Magdala.

She stood by Jesus: at the cross; when his body was taken down; and when he was entombed.

She was also, by several accounts, the first to meet the resurrected Christ and the first to tell others.

Outside the four canonical gospels, there are other gospels that show Mary was actually the one who understood Jesus’ teachings the most and was then summarily snubbed by the men.

(Could this account for her complete and baffling disappearance from the writings of the men who wrote the letters that follow the canonical gospels? That is for another discussion.)

But what we do know is that Jesus operated from a deep and abiding inner-communion with God or Love itself (1 John 4:8), and that he nourished that communion through regular meditative prayer.

This led him to reach out to and include any and all who wished to follow him.

It led him to respond in truth but through non-violence and compassion – even to his persecutors.

May we do the same.

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Listen to the song of the day “Turn Off the Noise” on the Listen to Your Heart album by clicking HERE.

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Remember: God loves you!