October 6, 2022 Reflection – “I tell you, ask and you shall receive!”
“I tell you, ask and you shall receive!” October 6, 2022 St. Bruno Dear Family of Mary! In our Gospel for today (Luke 11:5-13) Jesus explains the necessity of prayer and the power of prayer to His disciples. We need to realize that our whole relationship with God depends on prayer. Yes, we need Mother Church, we need the Sacraments, we need the Commandments and the teachings of the Church. But without prayer, none of these incredible gifts of the Church will penetrate, heal, lead, and change us! Jesus tells us in the Gospel: “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?” (Luke 11:9-13) Jesus made it perfectly clear that if we pray, if we ask the Father for something, He will answer us. If we seek the Father, He will be found. If we knock on the door of Heaven, it will be opened to us. In fact the Father will give us His very own Spirit if we ask Him. These gifts are the fruit of prayer. Our Lady has made prayer the most important part of her plan for us. She never stops exhorting us to pray. Take this message for example: April 2, 2011 “Dear children; With motherly love I desire to open the heart of each of you and to teach you personal unity with the Father. (This unity is achieved through prayer.) To accept this, you must comprehend that you are important to God and that He is calling you individually. (Prayer is the means to relate to God individually, and to recognize His love.) You must comprehend that your prayer is a conversation of a child with the Father; (This is the most beautiful way to describe what prayer is! We are children talking to our Father.) that love is the way by which you must set out: love for God and for your neighbor. (Prayer must be powered by love…) That is, my children, the love that has no boundaries. (We cannot put limits on our prayer out of love. It is everything for us.) That is the love that emanates from truth and goes to the end. (Prayer is the way to receive the truth that emanate from love) Follow me, my children, so that also others, in recognizing the truth and love in you, may follow you. (If we follow Our Lady into prayer, others will see and also follow.) Thank you.” Forgive me for interjecting throughout the message, but I couldn’t explain it any better than she does. I just wanted to emphasize her words. Let’s return to prayer with all our hearts! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan (c) Mary TV 2022