THURSDAY OF THE 1ST WEEK OF LENT

10TH MARCH 2022

ASK FOR IT, SEEK IT AND KNOCK FOR IT.

ESTHER 14:1-4

PSALMS 128:1-8

MATTHEW 7:7-12

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says to his disciples , “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you.”

What is it that Jesus wants us to ask and to knock so that it will be opened to you? Jesus has not openly mentioned what we should ask and knock for but going by his saying it is clear that he is referring to a thing easily identified or easily mentioned.

Prior to this teaching about prayer, Jesus had already taught different topics that almost entirely dwelt on our relationship with other people and on the worries and troubles that make us anxious.

What is this it that Jesus is telling us to ask and it will be given and to knock and it shall be opened to us?

If you were to ask God for something what would it be? Based on the prior teachings of Jesus and on the knowledge that the word it refers to a thing that is easily identified or easily mentioned, would you pray that you do not judge others? Would you pray that you would be able to forgive? Would you pray that you do not revenge or that you continue being the salt and the light of the world?

After telling his disciples “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you,” Jesus goes on to say “Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate to hell is wide and the road to it is easy and there are many who travel it, but the gate to life is narrow and the way that leads to it is hard and there are few people who find it.” This means that though you have asked that you would want to be enabled to forgive, to be enabled not to revenge or to judge, you would still knock to enter through the narrow door.

A narrow door needs struggling for you to be able to enter, it is not easy. It is not easy to put into practice the teachings of Jesus and only a prayer said in confidence to God the Father will help us.

The it that Jesus is telling us to seek and to knock for is the it of relying on God’s grace to be able to do God’s will because we already know it is not easy and we already know that we need to do the will of God.

At the same time, the it that Jesus is telling us to ask, to seek and to knock for is an invitation to evaluate our priorities and even after praying that God enables us to do God’s will,we cannot ignore the fact that we have other issues in life that we can pray for because we already know them.

Could the prayer by Queen Esther in today’s First Reading be showing what is a priority to her, could what she is praying for be the bread and the fish that she needs when she tells God to help her from danger brought about by being surrounded by enemies? She also prays for an eloquent speech and all these has the purpose of seeking salvation from God.

What you pray for shows what your priorities are. How you deal with people also shows what you value. Since we already know what we want and have confidence in God, all that is needed is to strike a balance between doing God’s will and seeking God’s favour because both are our it that we are being told to ask for, seek and knock for.