27th Week in Ord. Time, Thursday – 08th October 2020 — Gospel: Lk 11,5-13
The Ultimate Father
Prayer is not only at the heart of the Christian life, it is also at the heart of a lot of Christian frustration, misunderstanding and even pain. Through the “Parable of the breadless host” and the explanation thereafter on prayer, Jesus informs his disciples that God will give the best to his children of God, especially when they turn to God in a continual manner of prayer. The Greek verbs “ask, seek and knock” refer to a continuous action. Thus they could be translated as “ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking.” It is not because God needs to be persuaded to be loving toward us that Jesus tells us to ask and keep on asking. It is not because God is deaf to our first pleas. God wants us to be in a constant relationship with him. If we are always praying to God, then God is always in our minds. In this way, we acknowledge our need for God and that we can’t do anything without his help.
When we honestly admit our dependence on God by constantly being aware of our need for God’s intervention, like the need of a friend to support in moments of difficulty and the child expecting his father’s involvement, it is then God, the divine parent, is more willing to give us what we truly need. He is willing to give the very best, the Holy Spirit, to those who admit their need for divine assistance. God is more loving than any parent, for he has a loving purpose for each one. And what is great is that God knows, even better than us, what will be truly beneficial for each one. God wants to bestow the very best for each individual. We can affirm with St. Paul, “in all things God works for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8,28).
