THE GIFT TO ASK

Meditation for Thursday of the First Week of Lent
(Esther 14:1-11; Mt 7:7-12)

In this generation of self-reliant and self-dependent people, begging is very humiliating, yet increasingly rampant! Asking for help puts one at dilemma since the request can be turned down. Think about that moment when someone offered you something you deeply needed without you requesting for it! However, the dilemma and burden of making request disappears when we have to ask someone who assures of attending to our request, or, most importantly, when we have to beg for help from someone who willing gave us the opportunity to make our request.

When you have to present your request to someone who asked you to do so, then the act of ‘asking for help’ in itself becomes a gift! This ‘gift of asking’ goes beyond receiving what we asked for, but offers up even the heart of the giver. By receiving this great gift that goes ahead of my individual request, i.e. by asking because the owner had asked me to do so, then I present my request in OBEDIENCE! Meditate on what it means for you to present your request in obedience to the one who alone can answer you!

This ‘gift of asking’ is what we received in the gospel of today. “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” This gift is greater than my needs, for within it all my problems are silenced even before I receive the answers! Queen Esther prayed with anxiety, but the Christian flies to prayer on the wings of the opportunity and example of prayer Jesus offered. We are moved to pray, not just by our needs, but mostly in obedience, for Jesus commanded us to ask, seek and knock.

Therefore, prayer is a gift, and being able to pray is part of the satisfaction that the human heart yearns for. We do not pray with anxiety but with faith, hope and love. Ahead of our prayer is the trust that our heavenly Father gives good things to those who ask Him! In obedience, let us match forward this Lent to offer our prayers and petitions.

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Thursday March 10^th, 2022.
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