Reflection
Esther C:12-25
Psalm 138
Matthew 7:7-12
I’ll have the fish instead of the snake please. In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds the disciples that God knows exactly what we need, He is a loving Father, and He hears us when we call. Now, let’s focus on what it is for which we are asking. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Sounds to me like I can ask for just about anything! WHOO HOO!
We need to avoid reading a singular verse of the Bible in a vacuum. When Jesus says all who ask will receive needs to be tempered by the two great commandments that keep our relationship with God genuine: 1) Love God with all you have in you; 2) Love others the way you want to be loved. Which takes us directly to the last verse of the gospel: “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.”
Whatever we receive from God in the answer to our prayers will always be for us to be able to carry out those two commandments and not for our self-satisfaction. As a wonderful priest once said: “We can pray to God to win $100 million in the lottery with the promise to give half of it to the Church to do good things…and then you would use the other half as a pathway straight into hell.”
When we place great trust in God, when we pray with ultimate trust, God hears us and will absolutely answer those prayers with what we need. Trust Him! What is your prayer today?
It is a beautiful day! Go smile at God today!