Lent Week 1 – Thursday – Ask and it will be given to you

Today’s Gospel, taken from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew, is a salient reminder to us of the importance of prayer in our lives as Christians, it is in fact the very basis of our lives lived in Christ. Few would claim that prayer is always easy, whether we are disciplined in setting time aside for it or not, but today’s Gospel should fill us with hope. It is an exhortation to prayer, a timely reminder in this penitential season not only of the importance to give thanks to God but also of our need to place before Him our petitions. The message is clear, “ask and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” It is important to understand that here Christ is urging us to be persistent in our prayer; no prayer should be considered too small or unimportant. How much do we actually value that for which we ask, how sincere are we in our search?

God is always ready to listen to us, we simply need to become more aware of His presence in our lives through prayer and open ourselves to His saving grace. We need to humble ourselves and trust in Him as His children. We have Christ’s assurance that our prayers will be answered, perhaps in ways or at times which we do not expect or even recognise, but they will be answered if they are made in faith and obedience to the will of God. Finally, in this Gospel passage we are reminded of our obligation to treat our neighbour as we would wish to be treated ourselves. This commandment is at the very heart of the Christian vocation. How well disposed do we find ourselves to forgive, to counsel, to assist, and to praise others? If we are unsure as to what to pray for, perhaps we would do well to begin by reflecting upon that most important line of scripture.