Ask, Seek and Knock

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

As we enter the last day of the 3 Day Lent, I would like to look into the Gospel reading for the day. The reading is from the Gospel of St. Luke 11:5-13. This particular portion comes right up after Jesus teaches His disciples the Lord's Prayer. This shows the importance of prayer and the amount of importance Jesus placed on it too. Throughout the four gospels we can see Jesus teaching us on why, how, for whom, and what we are to pray. And though we might think that the Son of God would be above the need to pray, He sets the example for us, as a perfect human being, by rising early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35) and seeking times alone to pray (Matt. 14:23) and sometimes spending the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12) and, in the end, preparing for His suffering by prayer (Luke 22:41-42).

While, I will not be dealing with the whole aspect on why, for whom and what to pray, which I am keeping aside for the next edition of the newsletter, Alethia - by MGOCSM Diaspora, India, I will try to give a short description on how Jesus taught us to pray.

In today's fast paced world, where every thing that we need gets to us in an instant and we can also restrict the time and place of the occurrence, we also expect our prayers to be answered by our Lord. We expect Him to come down to our timeline and bless us with the blessings that we ask for within the time frame we set up. How ridiculous it sounds that the creation is demanding for the blessings from the Creator who created both the time and space. And once the requirement is fulfilled, we place our God into a closet to be taken out again in another time of need. That's one picture. Another picture - What happens when we do not get the blessings? For a time, we complain to God to keep away the blessings, even though we prayed so much. And then we forget about it.

Jesus gives the picture of an earthly father. A father is always loving towards his children, even if the father is the hardest of criminals, he will always try to give better gifts to his child who has asked for something. He will try to give him the best fish, if the son has asked for a normal fish to satiate his hunger. So how much more does our Heavenly Father loves us? The One who created each and every cell in our body with utmost care. he has taken care to provide for us with all that we need, even before we ask of it.

But, He wants us to come closer to Him. And we can come closer to Him only by prayer. And how should we pray? Jesus says "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; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." (St. Luke 11:9-10). He tells us to be persistent in our prayers to Him. He wants us to seek Him through our prayers and to keep on knocking at the door of God, because our God is a loving and compassionate God and He will hear our cries.

I would like to end on a warning too, given by Jesus on the same note in St. Matt. 6:5-14. Here Jesus warns us that being persistent in our prayers is not being repetitive in our prayers but to be thoughtful. He tells us not to heap up empty phrases, because that is the way the non-believers pray. He also tells us not to be loud about our prayers where everyone will see you, but to be silent in the closed quarters of our room and to pray that our Father might hear in Heaven and not the people surrounding us. 

I now close my thoughts here and more thoughts are being added as I end this small session here. I am praying that the Lord bless me to write more on the topic for the newsletter. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus, may this 3 Day Lent bless you with all the blessings that you seek. Our Father is a merciful and loving one, keep on praying and asking, and He will provide it to you in His time.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Your Brother in Christ Jesus

Jobin George