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Gospel Reflection - Just Ask

 

 

 

 

Making Things Happen

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

Gospel Reflection

 

 

 

 

 

We hardly dare to pray. Something in our psyche tells us

that it’s a naïve activity, especially if we have had negative results in the past. A nagging voice questions whether prayer might be the last ditch strategy employed by the desperate.

In truth many of us turn to prayer when everything else has failed. Sometimes we turn to prayer in situations where human endeavour has proved futile and we need a miracle. Today’s gospel gives tremendous encouragement to those who have forgotten how to pray, or who have lost faith in prayer, “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given you; search and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened for you.”

The problem with prayer is that we tend to treat God as though he were a genie in a magic lamp, asking him to help our football team score four goals in the closing minutes of a match, or help us win huge amounts of money to sort out our financial difficulties. Then when God doesn’t answer we imagine that he doesn’t care about us, or that prayer doesn’t work. Perhaps Jesus’ disciples shared some of our frustration when they say, “Lord teach us to pray.” In response Jesus gives us a model by which to pray. It’s important to recognise it as a model and not a prayer as such. Reciting a prayer is not the same as praying. The model prayer Jesus gives us, ‘The Lord’s Prayer’, invites us to pray to God as our Father, acknowledging his holiness and praying with the shared commitment to have his will done on earth. We are invited to pray for our ‘daily bread’, in other words, for the things we genuinely need. Pray for forgiveness, and promise to forgive others. Pray with persistence. Prayer is about building a relationship with God, speaking to him often throughout the day.

Lastly, and most importantly we should approach God with the faith we approach a loving parent. “What father,” reasons Jesus, “would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?” or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?” Even parents with very average parenting skills know how to give children what they need. “How much more,” says Jesus, “will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”  Today we are invited ……. Just ask!