ASK, PERSEVERE AND TRUST - 7/24/22 (Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time)

Luke 11:9

“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  

For the full readings, click here: 

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/072422.cfm

For more information on the optional memorial of St. Charbel, click here:

https://mycatholic.life/saints/saints-of-the-liturgical-year/july-24-saint-sharbel-makhluf-hermit/

For the examination of conscience and guide to confession, click here:

https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/examination-of-conscience/

For more information on how to pray the rosary, click here:

https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/the-most-holy-rosary/

Blessed Sunday! There is only one prayer in Scriptures that God directly instructs us to pray, and this is the "Our Father" prayer. It's important for us to know that this was taught by our Lord, not when He was asked "what to pray" but "how to pray." As such, we should not treat the "Our Father" prayer, or other prayers, as if we are simply saying some words. To understand the essence of prayer, especially the "Our Father", our Savior tells us that those who ask will receive, those who seek will find, and those who knock will have the door opened for him. What do these words signify? 

Those who ask will receive. It is usual for us that when we pray, we ask God for something. It's not wrong to make a request to the Lord, but He desires for us to have the right disposition everytime we ask. As we see in the "Our Father" prayer, we say, "Thy will be done", not "My will be done." God sees many things that we cannot see. As such, we should always pray based on His Divine Will and not based on our own wants. For example, when we pray for us to be healed from sickness, we should pray as if we are telling our Lord, "If it's Your will that I can give you greater glory by being healed, may Your will be done. If it's Your will for me to be patient while being sick, may Your will be done." In this way, our hearts and minds will be more open to what is truly good for us, even if we don't fully understand everything yet. At the same time, Jesus desires for us to always beg, with humility, for His forgiveness and the grace to reject the temptations to commit sins. 

Those who seek will find. What does it mean for us to seek? When we are looking for a thing that is missing, we can only see it if we seek to look for it. Our Lord Jesus is teaching us about the importance of perseverance. Although it's really good to ask for God in our prayers, God also desires for us to persevere in doing His will. If God gives what we asked for, like good health, we should persevere in serving and glorifying God with the health that He has given us. And, even if we do not get what we ask for, when it comes to temporal goods, we should still persevere in doing what is good while rejecting the idea that our own wants are better than what is given to us by our Lord. In the "Our Father" prayer, and even in our personal prayers, it is pleasing to God for us to beg His forgiveness. But, this also means that we persevere in receiving the sacrament of confession, the Mass, and in the resolutions we make in order to not fall to temptations and grow in virtues. 

Knock and the door will be opened to us. When we are knocking at the door of someone, we are expecting that they will open the doors for us. After all, why do we knock if we want the doors to remain closed for us? One way of understanding what Jesus said is that He wants us to have confidence in Him as we pray, and this happens when we trust in Him. When we are praying for temporal goods, we should have confidence that what God will give us in accordance to His will is what is actually better for us in a wider perspective. Let's say that we remain sick or that we experience some financial difficulties. Maybe, if we receive good health or many money instead, we might just commit more sins, and when God foresees it, He prevents a greater evil to take place. At the same time, God is inviting us to offer our sufferings and to be more dependent on Him, and with this perspective, we can even grow in virtues even if we don't get what we pray for. We can only have better understanding when we trust in our Lord. This also means that when we beg for graces and when we persevere in holiness, Jesus reminds us to trust that God is always on our side. By asking for God's will, persevering in doing good and trusting in the Lord, He will guide us to eternal life. 

Amen +

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, be with us always until the hour of our death. Amen. +

 

May the Lord + bless us, protect us from all evil and bring us to everlasting life. Amen. +  

Reflection by: Dominic