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The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents, Let Us Reflect Together. 40 Days of Lent Retreat from the Cross to Hope. Day 33. Entering the Passion with Mark. Watch and pray with Cardinal Thomas Collins.

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In the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's just let our hearts be still. Ask the Lord's forgiveness for those things which are barriers. Let's ask the Lord to help us form a pathway to our hearts. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me as sinner. Away with all those distractions, those things that clutter up our minds and hearts. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. Speak, Lord. Your servant is listening. And they went to a place which was called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. He is the Lord God amongst us. And yet the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. And in his humanity, God made man, the second person of the Trinity. He communes with his heavenly Father. Remember earlier on, the very first part of the Gospel of Mark, he went away by himself early in the morning to pray. And sometimes, in some parts, he says he was praying alone in the midst of his disciples. And before he chose the apostles, he went and prayed. He was on the mountain praying, one-on-one with the Heavenly Father. And he gives in this an example to us all. And now he's preparing for his suffering, death, and resurrection. And so he is praying. He's giving us a message that we on this earth who are to take up his cross and follow in his footsteps and live in the imitation of Christ should live in the imitation of Christ in his life of prayer with the Heavenly Father. He even taught us how to pray. Say, our Father who art in heaven. He spends time with the Lord, the Heavenly Father. God shows us how to pray to God when the word became flesh and dwelt amongst us. And so we should think of that. Our life must pivot around our life of prayer. Later on he says, Would you not spend one hour with me? And this is a passage which the great Bishop Sheen, who recommended that priests who have an opportunity living near a church, but as many as can do it, really, if they have a chance, and many, many do, spend one hour every day in adoration before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. What asked, why one hour? He said, Well, that's the only thing Jesus ever asked of his disciples. Could you not spend one hour with me? It's the still point of the turning world. The faster the wheel is spinning, the more the hub has to be secure. And the hub is prayer. The closer we come to the center, the closer we come to one another, the closer we come to God, and the more we will know how to deal with the various crosses of our own life, different as they may be. And it's in that that we find our hope, our life, and our light. And Jesus gives us the message, shows us the way.

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Join us tomorrow for day 34, Entering the Passion with Mark. Not my will, but yours, with Cardinal Thomas Collins. For more information, please email us at info at ncbc.ca, visit our website at daily tvmass.com, or call our office toll free at one eight eight eight three eight three six two seven seven.