solitude

⁶But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

¹⁵Yet word of him traveled around all the more. And great crowds came together, so that they might listen and be cured by him from their infirmities. ¹⁶And he withdrew into the desert and prayed.

¹²And it happened that, in those days, he went out to a mountain to pray. And he was in the prayer of God throughout the night.

³¹And he said to them, “Go out alone, into a deserted place, and rest for a little while.” For there were so many who were coming and going, that they did not even have time to eat.

²³And having dismissed the multitude, he ascended alone onto a mountain to pray. And when evening arrived, he was alone there.

¹“Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven. ²Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you. ⁵And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. ⁶But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.

³⁵And rising up very early, departing, he went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.

⁷It is God who makes men dwell in a house under one custom. He leads out those who are strongly bound, and similarly, those who exasperate, who dwell in sepulchers.

⁴And he continued on, into the desert, for one day’s journey. And when he had arrived, and was sitting under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die. And he said: “It is enough for me, O Lord. Take my soul. For I am no better than my fathers.” ⁵And he stretched himself out, and he slept deeply in the shadow of the juniper tree. And behold, an Angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him, “Rise up and eat.” ⁶He looked, and behold, at his head was bread baked under ashes, and a container of water. Then he ate and drank, and again he slept deeply. ⁷And the Angel of the Lord returned a second time, and touched him, and said to him: “Rise up, eat. For a great journey again stands before you.” ⁸And he when he had risen up, he ate and drank. And he walked by the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights, as far as the mountain of God, Horeb. ⁹And when he had arrived there, he stayed in a cave. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁵But, when it pleased him who, from my mother’s womb, had set me apart, and who has called me by his grace, ¹⁶to reveal his Son within me, so that I might evangelize him among the Gentiles, I did not next seek the consent of flesh and blood. ¹⁷Neither did I go to Jerusalem, to those who were Apostles before me. Instead, I went into Arabia, and next I returned to Damascus.

¹⁶And he withdrew into the desert and prayed.

⁶Yet, truly, my soul will be subject to God. For from him is my patience.