Today,
Jesus reminds us of the need and power of
prayer. We cannot understand our Christian life without being related
to God, and in this relation, prayer takes a central place. While we
live in this world, we Christians find ourselves on a pilgrimage
road, but our prayer gets us closer to God, opens up the door of his
immense love and brings forward the Heaven delights. This is why, our
Christian life is a constant request and search: «Ask
and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will
be opened» (Mt 7:7), says Jesus to
his disciples.
At
the same time, the prayer gradually turns a stone heart into a flesh
heart: «As bad as you are, you know how to give good
things to your children. How much more, then, will your Father in
heaven give good things to those who ask him!» (Mt
7:11). The best summary we can ask God can be
found in Our Lord's Prayer: «Your kingdom come and your
will be done, on earth as in heaven» (cf. Mt 6:10).
We, therefore, cannot ask just anything in our prayers, but something
which is really for our own good. If nobody wants to hurt himself, we
should not want any damage for others, either.
We,
sometimes, fail to see God's concern for us, for we find our prayers
seemingly unanswered or may even feel God does not love us. In such
moments, it will do us good to remember this advice from Saint
Jerome: «It is certain God gives to he, who asks, that
he, who seeks, finds, and that he, who knocks, will be opened: It is
clearly seen that he, who has not received, who has not found, who
has not been opened, is just because he did not know how to ask, how
to seek nor how to knock at the door».
Let us, therefore, ask God, in the first place, to give us a loving
heart just like that of Jesus Christ.
