“And in the morning, a great while before day, he rose and went out to a lonely place, and there he prayed.”
Mark 1:35 (RSV)
When I was four, I once got lost in the woods, while on a family vacation in Michigan. Fortunately, a very kind couple found me and took me inside their cabin where I safely waited, until my parents came to get me. Being lost in the woods is a lonely experience, but to go to a lonely place on purpose, for solitude to pray, is a totally different thing, and can be a time of rich spiritual renewal.
Jesus routinely went off alone to
“the lonely place” every day to pray, and get away from the crowds. He found a grotto, which is a cave or covered recess, on a mountain, which offered Him privacy and solitude. Scholars believe that the attached photo of this Eremos grotto, on the north side of the Sea of Galilee, is the actual place where Jesus went to pray each day. (Eremos in Greek, literally means lonely, deserted place)
Jesus taught that we should enter our inner room or prayer closet to spend private time with God. It sounds like Jesus hoped we would find our own grotto to retreat to. He said, “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.” (Matthew 6:6)
The Eremos grotto is probably where Jesus prepared His famous sermon on the Mount. He was probably there when He developed the teaching that peacemakers are the true children of God, the pure in heart are the ones who will see God, and only the meek will inherit the earth. Inside that grotto, Jesus spoke in secret to his Father and put His thoughts into words to preach and teach us. The mountain where that grotto is located, is more commonly known as the Mount of Beatitudes.
Lonliness might be a result of losing friends or loved ones, but solitude is a choice. It’s a choice to routinely go to our secret place, our own metaphoric grotto, where we spend time each day with God. It’s a time to invite Him into our day, and to guide our thoughts and words, and all the events of our day.
There are also times when it’s necessary to find the grotto within us, whenever we feel the need to call upon Jesus. It might be while sitting on an airplane, or on the way to a medical procedure, or at a family holiday gathering with relatives we don’t see very often. Since Jesus promised to send His Spirit to live within us, we can step into our spiritual grotto at any time and bring our prayer needs to Him.
When I was lost in the woods, someone brought me into their cabin, and cared for me until my parents came and brought me home. We are all in temporary cabins in this life, waiting for Jesus to return and take us to our real home.
We occasionally meet lost people wandering through our woods, and God is asking us to bring them into our cabin, to comfort and assure them that their Father is coming soon. No one is meant to fend for themselves, since Jesus commands us to love our neighbor as ourself. It’s another way of saying we actually are our brother’s keeper. Before we can care for any lost brothers or sisters, we first need to find our grotto and retreat in daily solitude with the Lord.
Lord, help us to stay faithful to the private time spent in our grotto with you each day, and give us the compassion to comfort and care for those who are lost or wandering around us. Amen
The actual grotto of Eremos