"Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find . . ."
Luke 11: 5 - 13
Have you ever been caught in a task that you felt was a waste of time? Maybe you felt your were unproductive, wasting your talents, uninspired and capable of much more than was given you. Maybe it was a class in school, a job given you, or being looked over in favor of someone else. Life does throw us such curve balls and we feel that we should be more productive and meaningful.
As Americans were are both producers and consumers. We feel that if one does not show some tangible results from a task then that task was meaningless or a waste of time. We work hard for results and feel our time is too precious to waste.
Yet, today's Gospel revels to us something that we may know is good and right yet we don't often pay regular attention to it - that is prayer. Our spiritual life is essential in our lives as Christians. How often do the Gospels tell us that Jesus went away from the crowds to pray. Remember the thousands gathered on the hillsides when Jesus both taught and then fed them miraculously with the multiplication of loaves and fish. This event was far more significant than him producing a slick magic trick to satisfy and impress the crowds. It was an early image of the Eucharist, that eternal food which satisfies like no other.
So, he goes off to pray by himself: to recharge his batteries as it were, to reflect on his mission, to commune with God his Father, to prepare for more ahead of him. We too pray not only when we need or want something but prayer is essentially an invitation to relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Gospel today invites us to be persistent in our prayer and to trust that God hears us and will respond in kind. Prayer is not a waste of time but an opportunity to fall more deeply in love with our Lord and to make the Christian "work" we do more in imitation of Jesus himself.
"Ask and you will receive, seek and you fill find" may lead us to wonder if this is some sort of hidden message from our Lord. I've asked and sought but no results! Did God hear me or is he deaf or have I not phrased my request correctly? Yet, part of prayer is to surrender ourselves to his will.
The readings assure us that all God gives is good; that he is a Father who cares and would never lead his children astray. So, prayer is not a waste of time but the best use of time. We approach a loving God who hears and leads us to what is best. Even when things do not go our way, he then helps us to make sense or at least to draw ultimate good out of what might seem not so good.
Just BE with God in prayer; read scripture and reflect; pray the Rosary slowly and reflect on the mysteries; after receiving Communion at Mass really sit quietly in thanksgiving for who has fed you; pray for the faith to trust in what you may not be convinced of.
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