Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 11, 2018 - Thursday in the 27th Week in Ordinary Time
[Gal 3:1-5 and Luke 11:5-13]"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 hi 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." [Luke]
Perseverance in prayer can be very difficult. There are so many things we WANT and we often confuse those with the few things we actually NEED. When I recall some of the things I prayed for as a youngster, I am put in mind of the lead character in the Broadway musical, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, in his song, IF I WERE A RICH MAN: "Would it spoil some vast eternal plan, if I were a wealthy man?" When we don't get what we want, do we fail to see what providence actually sends us in the way of what we need?
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, he included the petition, which we say thousands of times in our lives,"Give us this day, our daily bread...." In the Gospel According to Luke, the familiar words of that prayer, along with other echos of the Sermon on the Mount from the Gospel According to Matthew, are delivered in a "sermon on the plain." But it is the same teaching about trusting in divine providence to help us find what we truly need. At the same time we are exhorted to be generous with what we already have and receive.
Part of many campus ministry programs nowadays are "mission trips" to poverty-stricken areas either in the USA or abroad. The students come back with stories of how poor families share the very little food in the house with them. The experience reshapes their prayer and perception of the difference between what they want and what they truly need. That difference is something we can all benefit from pondering. AMEN