Thursday. [II Cor. 7:1-10; Mark 1:29-35]

   In the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. Here is a lesson to get up early and devote the first hours of the day to prayer, in solitude. The soul, renewed with sleep, is fresh, light and capable of penetration, like fresh morning air; therefore it asks on its own to be allowed to go where all of its joy is found, to go before the face of the heavenly Father, to the company of the angels and saints. It is more convenient for the soul to pray at this time instead of later when the cares of the day already are piled upon the soul. The Lord orders everything. You must receive a blessing from Him for work, for needed understanding, and for crucial strengthening. And hurry as early as possible, before anything interferes, to lift yourself in solitude to the Lord in mind and heart, and to confess your needs and intentions to Him, and to beg for His help. Having disposed yourself with prayer and thoughts of God, from the first moments of the day, you will then conduct the whole day in reverence and fear of God, with collected thoughts. From this come discretion, steadiness, and harmony in deeds and mutual relations. This is a reward for the labour which you compel yourself to undertake in your morning solitude. Thus, even for worldly people this makes good sense, and is not something alien to their goals.