I will give you a hint. It has to do with the number 86,400. Just in case you haven’t figured it out, 86,400 are the number of seconds that each one of us receives from God each day. When you think about a number that big, it seems like a lot of time. Well, let’s take a look at how quickly it can go. Getting a good night’s sleep will take about 28,800 of those seconds. Many of us are still working, which including our commute time will take around 36,000 more seconds. Most of us like to eat three times a day, so that could take an additional 7,200 seconds. Many of like to read or watch TV and that can take another 10,800 seconds of our day.

We have just used 82,200 seconds or 23 hours of our day. We have 3,600 seconds or an hour to spare. What are we going to do with it? Before we know it those seconds are gone and we don’t get any more that day. We can’t carry forward any time that we haven’t used or borrow some time from the next day.

Well not everyone measures time in the same way. A man was lying in a field looking at the various shapes in the sky when he decided to ask God a question. He asked, “How long is a million years?” God replied, “In my frame of reference it is about a minute. Next the man asked, “God, how much is a million dollars? God replied, “It is a penny.” Then the man asked God, “Could I have a penny?” God replied, “Sure, just give me a minute.”

Here on earth we still have some seconds left over in our day. What is the one thing that is not yet on our schedule? It is leaving time for us to pray. We need to pray everyday not just when we come to Mass on the weekend or here and there during the week.

The more we have to do, the more we need to pray. The less time we think we have, the more time we need to spend with God.

When we put God first and rely upon the strength of God’s grace to get things done, we become more effective and more efficient. Most importantly, we realize it’s not all up to us – God is up ahead, clearing the path and guiding the way.

This Gospel follows what we’ve heard in the last two weeks: When Jesus heard that John the Baptist was in prison, he left Nazareth and moved to Capernaum, where he called his disciples and started his ministry. The first thing he did was to go to the synagogue to teach, and there he met a man with an unclean spirit who challenged his authority. He cast the spirit out of the man, leaving the elders and scribes in utter amazement.

Then he took a short walk from the synagogue to Simon’s house. Mark says James and John were with him. When they got there, they found Simon’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. According to Mark,

“He approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up.

Then the fever left her and she waited on them.”

The news spread fast. Before the sun went down there were hordes of infirmed and demon-possessed people standing outside hoping to be healed. Mark says simply, “The whole town was gathered at the door.”

The next morning, there would be others. By the time Jesus went to bed, he must have been exhausted. You couldn’t blame him for sleeping in the next day or taking the day off. But according to Mark,

“Rising very early before dawn, he left

and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.”

Jesus set the example: The busier we are, the more we need to pray. The less time we think we have, the more time we need to spend with God.

Well, if Jesus first looked to God for strength, direction and peace in the midst of clamoring voices, shouldn’t we?

The busier we are, the more we need to pray. If it was true for Jesus, it’s even more true for us.

Now, it’s interesting to note that Jesus didn’t just get up early in the morning and kneel by the side of his bed. Mark says, “He went off to a deserted place, where he prayed.” Jesus went somewhere to get away from the crowds and the pressures and expectations of another miracle.

You see my point: If Jesus needed a quiet place to talk with God and listen for the voice of God’s Spirit giving him comfort, strength and direction, don’t we?

On Ash Wednesday, which is only 10 days from now, we will hear these words from the Gospel of Matthew:

“But when you pray, go to your inner room,

close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

There was a woman who took these words literally. She lived alone in a small one-bedroom house just up the street from her church. On her pastor’s first visit she insisted on showing him her home. She’d designed it herself and had it built, and she was justly proud of it, so she showed him every nook and cranny.

The bedroom was in the back, and it had a walk-in closet – not a big walk-in closet like you see in homes nowadays that have their own heating, television and air-conditioning systems – hers was just a small space, but with a door of its own, which she proudly pointed out to him.

Inside the door, in the middle of the closet was a little bench. The clothes hung to the left and right. There was a light with a draw string overhead. On the bench was an old tattered Bible.

“This is my prayer closet,” she said. “The Lord told us when we pray to go into a room and shut the door. Well, I don’t shut the door since there’s no one here but me, but this is where I sit and read my Bible and pray.”

As he stood there in front of the closet door, he knew he was standing on holy ground made sacred by the prayerful devotion of this holy woman. It was the place she knew she could go to get away from the clamor of the world and be refreshed and renewed in the Spirit.

What about us? Do we have a special place we like to go to be apart with God? If not, think about creating one. It doesn’t have to be a closet, though, if that works for you, go for it. It can be as simple as a favorite chair or a tree in the back yard.

Now that we may have a place picked out, how do we start? As you have heard Fr. Dan mention a few times, our parish belongs to Formed.org. It is a web site full of excellent Catholic content. It turns out that starting on Ash Wednesday, we all have an opportunity to sign up for a daily reflection that will be sent to our emails. It only takes 10 minutes every day. There is a 5 minute video, then we can read a passage from the Catechism and reflect on how God’s truth applies to our daily lives.

If you haven’t joined Formed.org yet, there is information in the Narthex about how to join and even better it is free.

With all we have going on, we are too busy not to pray. Think or better yet pray about setting some time each day for prayer beginning on Ash Wednesday with Formed.org. It will be 600 seconds of your day well spent.

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