Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.
Which one of you would hand his son a stone
when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.
“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets.”
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.
I wonder if we actually believe this. The gospel about the mustard seed comes to mind here. That parable teaches, if we simply unite our prayer with God we can do great things. But when we make petitionary prayer, and ask God for His blessing and favor, we don’t always get what we want. So what does this gospel actually mean.
God wants to give us everything…, He is the good father, and He loves us all so much, but He also knows that some gifts would actually be a curse, either to myself or to others. Think of the movie Bruce Almighty. In the that movie Bruce is given the power of God, and because he is human, he cant handle all of the prayer requests coming in, so he grants all of the requests at once, everyone gets what they pray for, and it was a calamity for the world. Clearly not all prayers could or should be granted.
But what about the important ones, what about the prayers for healing? This is where the big picture of God comes into play. We cannot understand why God allows innocents to be harmed or the evil to be healed, but I do know that it will all be revealed at the end of time, and I guarantee, that the plan will be greater and more awesome then we could possibly imagine.
But I think that the most important message of this gospel comes at the end. He says “I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.” If you have an important petition, pray for it constantly. Pray without ceasing, and you will see miracles happen. I believe it was Augustine that said that sometimes God does not grant your prayers right away because He needs time to help you prepare your heart and soul to receive it. So humbly pray, God does hear you, and then wait, and trust that He will provide, in His time, and in His way.
Oh lord, help me today to have the grace to trust that you will hear my prayers, and that you will grant my petitions in your way, and in your time, and I know that it will be awesome when done.
