March 5, 2020

Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Readings for Today

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you…”

“How much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:7, 11

Jesus is very clear that when we ask, we will receive, when we seek, we will find, and when we knock, the door will be opened to you. But is that your experience? Sometimes we can ask, and ask, and beg, and it appears that our prayer goes unanswered, at least in the way we want it to be answered. So what does Jesus mean when He says to “ask…seek…knock” and you will receive?

The key to understanding this exhortation from our Lord is that, as the Scripture above states, through our prayer, God will give “good things to those who ask.” He doesn’t promise us whatever we ask for; rather, He promises that which is truly good and good, in particular, for our eternal salvation.

This begs the question, “Then how do I pray and what do I pray for?” Ideally, every prayer of intercession we utter should be for the Lord’s will to be done, nothing more, and nothing less. Only His perfect will.

That can be harder to pray for than one might first expect. Too often we tend to pray that “my will be done” rather than that “Thy will be done.” But if we can trust, and trust on a profound level, that God’s will is perfect and provides us with all “good things,” then seeking His will, asking for it and knocking at the door of His heart will produce an abundance of grace as God desires to bestow it.

Reflect, today, upon the way you pray. Try to change your prayer so that it seeks the good things God wants to bestow rather than the many things you want God to bestow. It may be hard at first to detach from your own ideas and your own will, but in the end, you will be blessed with many good things from God.

Lord, I do pray that Your will be done in all things. I desire to surrender to You above all, and to trust in Your perfect plan. Help me, dear Lord, to abandon my own ideas and desires, and to seek Your will always. Jesus, I trust in You.

40 Days at the Foot of the Cross – Reflection Eight – Fidelity in All Things

Resources for Lent

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Divine Mercy Reflections

Saints/Feasts for Today

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