From the Friars: Ask and You Will Receive

Walking down Essex Street I passed through a group of kids playing and riding their scooter boards, or whatever those skate boards with handles are called. “Hey God,” one little boy says to me. “No, I only work for Him.” He and an even younger girl come after me and start asking me questions. Myself, I would rather have to debate with someone with a PhD in theology than try to answer kids’ questions about God. It is harder than one might think to try to bring things down to their level, not to mention that in their innocence they tend to get to the uncomfortable heart of a matter. As we talk, I try to explain how you can speak with Jesus even though you usually won’t see Him or hear Him. “I think I will ask Him to buy me something,” says my new friend. I laughed, but realized quickly that that is pretty much what I pray for often, especially now that we are trying to make improvements to the shrine.

“Ask and you will receive,” Jesus tells us in the Gospel today. This causes no end of frustration and confusion because we often ask and do not receive.

We often ask for very good things, like health or work, or a place to live, and it seems like no one is listening. This problem is a great example of how we have to interpret any particular verse of the Bible in the context of the whole book. For example, St. James tells us, “you ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (James 4:3) The gospel reading today begins with St. Luke’s version of the Our Father. This greatest of prayers is Our Lord’s clearest teaching on what to pray for. It is a list of seven petitions in order of priority.

Jesus is trying to form our hearts, that we will seek what is truly good for us.

Good parents long to give good things to their children but at the same time they do not want to spoil them or give them something that they are not ready for or may be harmful. When we pray, before asking God to buy us something, we should take a minute and ask ourselves if we really desire what is for God’s Glory and our sanctification? Jesus once asked St. Thomas Aquinas what he would like as a reward for his beautiful writings about the Eucharist.

The saint replied, “You Lord, only You Yourself.”

Pax et bonum.

–Fr. Peter