In today`s gospel, Jesus is in a place called Caperneum which he seems to have made his base.  He works lots of miracles there; he cures Peter`s mother-in-law of fever, he cures all sorts of diseases and sicknesses, and he casts out evil spirits.  But in the evening he goes up into the hills to pray by himself to his Father.  Caperneum isn`t his base; his Father is his base.  In the morning his disciples can`t find him at first, but when they do he tells them they are leaving Caperneum to preach the gospel in other places because that is why he came.

We may feel by now that where we live is not so much a base but where we are permanently holed up.  We can escape to God in prayer, and we can make God a permanent base for our lives.  Let`s remember that prayer is the only real solution to our problems.  I`m not suggesting that it`s prayer instead of vaccines, but let`s pray that the vaccines will work, and that the coming months will see a resumption of something like normal life.