Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 10, 2024 - 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.....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]
Context and purpose are important in reading scripture. In the case of the Gospel According to Luke the context is a missionary church undergoing persecution. Missionaries are human, after all, and can take only so much harassment and punishment before losing hope. Jesus advises that the prayer of a missionary has to be constant because it is the relationship with God that is important and sustaining in preaching the gospel. And the one thing a missionary can count on receiving from God is the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable the mission to continue in the person of the missionary. What is important is that the missionary be persistent and also understand that the prayer and response are a matter of NEED and just just WANT.
We may not realize our true needs if we are focused on our wants and appetites. Even in Jesus' day, as in our own time, parents knew the difference between giving kids what they need and not always giving into what the kids want. Missionaries can be certain of the gift of the Holy Spirit to enable them to accomplish their mission. I have often had to counsel students who felt that God was unresponsive to their prayers. I ask them what they need and can often point to resources and "gifts" they have within themselves that come from the presence of the Holy Spirit, which they in their distress had not thought of.
God is always present, but we can be blinded to that presence by particular internal wants or external challenges. Persistent attention to the presence of the Holy Spirit is necessary if we want to be effective Christian witnesses. AMEN