Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
Then they who fear the Lord spoke with one another, and the Lord listened attentively; and a record book was written before him of those who fear the Lord and trust in his name. And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; between the one who serves God, and the one who does not serve him. For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts. But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.
He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers.
Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes.
“And I tell you, ask and you will receive; 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. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
“How much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Fr. Josep Mª MASSANA i Mola OFM (Barcelona, Spain)Today the Gospel is a catechesis from Jesus on prayer. He solemnly assures us that the Father always listens: “ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Lk 11:9).
At times, we might think that experience shows otherwise—that prayer doesn’t always “work” that way. But the truth is, we must pray with the right dispositions!
The first is constancy—perseverance. We are called to pray without losing heart, even if it seems that our prayer meets resistance or that it is not answered immediately. This is the lesson of the man who goes at midnight to ask his friend for bread. By his persistence, he receives what he needs. God is that friend who listens from within to the one who remains constant. We must trust that He will eventually grant what we ask, because He is not only Friend, but Father.
The second attitude Jesus teaches is trust and childlike love. God’s fatherhood goes infinitely beyond human fatherhood, which is always limited and imperfect: “If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven …?” (Lk 11:13).
The third: we must ask above all for the Holy Spirit, and not only for material things. Jesus urges us to ask for the Spirit, assuring us that we will receive Him: “... how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Lk 11:13). This prayer is always answered. To ask for the Spirit is really to ask for the gift of prayer itself, since the Holy Spirit is its source and origin.
Blessed Brother Giles of Assisi, companion of St. Francis, summed up this Gospel teaching when he said: “Pray faithfully and devotedly, because a grace God has not granted you once, He may grant to you some other time. On your part, humbly place your whole mind in God, and God will place his grace in you, as and when He pleases.”
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
"Your truth told us to cry out, and we should be answered; to knock, and it would be opened to us; to beg, and it would be given to us. Oh! Eternal Father, Your servants do cry out to Your mercy; do You then reply" (Santa Catalina de Siena)
"When we need help, Jesus does not tell us to resign ourselves and close ourselves off, but rather to turn to the Father and ask him with confidence. All our needs, from the most evident, daily ones" (Francis)
"The Holy Spirit who teaches the Church and recalls to her all that Jesus said also instructs her in the life of prayer, inspiring new expressions of the same basic forms of prayer: blessing, petition, intercession, thanksgiving, and praise." (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2644)
