March 13, 2025
Thursday of the First Week in Lent
Lectionary: 227
Reading 1
Queen Esther, seized with mortal anguish,
had recourse to the LORD.
She lay prostrate upon the ground, together with her handmaids,
from morning until evening, and said:
"God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, blessed are you.
Help me, who am alone and have no help but you,
for I am taking my life in my hand.
As a child I used to hear from the books of my forefathers
that you, O LORD, always free those who are pleasing to you.
Now help me, who am alone and have no one but you,
O LORD, my God.
"And now, come to help me, an orphan.
Put in my mouth persuasive words in the presence of the lion
and turn his heart to hatred for our enemy,
so that he and those who are in league with him may perish.
Save us from the hand of our enemies;
turn our mourning into gladness
and our sorrows into wholeness."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (3a) Lord, on the day I called for help,
you answered me.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for me;
your kindness, O LORD, endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.
Verse Before the Gospel
A clean heart create for me, O God;
give me back the joy of your salvation.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Ask and it will be given to you;
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.
Which one of you would hand his son a stone
when he asked for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asked for a fish?
If you then, who are wicked,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him.
"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.
This is the law and the prophets."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031325.cfm
Commentary on Esther
C:12, 14-16,23-25*
Esther, a Jewish woman and queen to King Assuerus
(Greek, Xerxes) of Persia, used her influence to avert a massacre
of her people by the Persians. As she prepared to enter the presence of the
king she made the prayer in today’s passage.
She prays to God to stretch his protecting hand over his
people and to help her, particularly in the task she has to do. She
acknowledges her weakness and that, without God’s help, there is nothing she
can do. But she, so to speak, reminds God of the promises he made long ago to
his chosen people, chosen as a “lasting inheritance”. It is a prayer of pure
petition.
She knows that she and her people are totally in God’s
hands. She does not threaten or try to manipulate God or bargain with him. She
leaves the outcome entirely to him.
We are encouraged by today’s Gospel to ask, to search, and
to knock as a way of acknowledging our total dependence on God. At the same
time, whatever we ask for, like Esther, we leave the outcome totally in his
hands. As Jesus prayed in the Garden:
Father…not my will but yours be done. (Luke
22:42)
_________________________
*The text references for this passage from
the Book of Esther vary from Bible to Bible. The citation above is from chapter
C in the New American Bible (Revised Edition). The Book of Esther
consists of an original Hebrew text with a later (but still pre-Christian) text
in Greek added. Non-Catholic Bibles tend to omit the Greek text as apocryphal.
Today’s reading comes from a part of the Greek text.
Comments Off
Commentary on Matthew 7:7-12
Today’s readings are about prayer, and specifically, prayer
of petition. The Gospel reading sounds marvellous:
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will
find…
It seems all I have to do is pray for something and I will
get what I ask for. And yet, we all know from experience, that is simply not
true. I pray to win the lottery, but don’t even get one of the minor prizes. I
pray for the recovery of a person with cancer, but the person dies. What is
happening? Is Jesus telling lies? Are there some hidden conditions of which we
are not aware?
I believe the answer lies in the second half of the passage.
First, Jesus asks whether a father would offer a stone to his son asking for
bread, or whether a snake would be offered instead of a fish.
If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts
to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to
those who ask him!
In other words, if we human beings, in spite of our
shortcomings, care for the well-being of our children, then surely God, who is
all good, will be infinitely more caring. The problem is not that God does not
answer our prayers; the difficulty is that we tend to ask for the wrong things.
We do not give a child a sharp knife to play with even though, when we refuse
to do so, he throws a temper tantrum and gets angry with us. A good parent, of
course, will try to give the child something else which satisfies the child’s
real need at the moment.
Jesus is saying that God will give “good things” to those
who ask. In fact, as Jesus says elsewhere (Matt 6:8), God already knows all our
needs so it is not necessary to tell him. Then why pray at all? The purpose of
prayer is for us to become more deeply aware of what our real needs are.
The things we ask for in prayer can be very revealing of our
relationship with God and with others. It can be very revealing of our values
and our wants (which are very different from our needs). The deepest prayer of
petition will be to ask God to give us those things which most benefit our
long-term well-being, those things which will bring us closer to him and help
us to interact in truth and love with those around us. It is a prayer to be the
kind of person we ought to be. It is difficult to see that prayer not being
answered.
It may be useful for us to look at the prayer of petition of
Jesus in the garden and how it was answered. Paul, in the second letter to the
Corinthians also shares an experience of petitionary prayer which he made (2
Cor 12:7-10) and the surprising answer that he got.
Today’s Gospel passage ends with the so-called Golden Rule:
In everything do to others as you would have them do to
you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Note that it is expressed positively rather than negatively
and that makes a considerable difference. The negative version can be observed
by doing nothing at all—not so the positive version. Although it is a separate
saying, it can be linked with what Jesus says about petitionary prayer. If we
expect God to be kind and generous to us, surely we are expected to be equally
kind and generous to those who come asking our help.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1015g/
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Season of Lent
Opening prayer
Lord, our God,
You are a generous Father, who give us what is good for
us simply because You love us.
Give us grateful hearts, Lord, that we may learn from You
to give and share without counting the cost but simply with love and joy,
as Jesus, Your Son, did among us,
who lives with You and the Holy Spirit forever.
Gospel Reading -
Matthew 7: 7-12
Jesus said to his disciples: "Ask and it will be given
to you; 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. Which
one of you would hand his son a stone when he asked for a loaf of bread, or a
snake when he asked for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good
things to those who ask him. "Do to others whatever you would have them do
to you. This is the law and the
prophets."
Reflection
The Gospel today gives a part of the Sermon on the Mount,
the new law of God which has been
revealed to us by Jesus. The Sermon on the Mount has the following structure:
• Mathew 5: 1-16: The
entrance door: the Beatitudes (Mt 5:1-10) and the mission of the disciples: to be the salt of the earth and
the light of the world (Mt 5: 12-16).
• Mathew 5: 17-18:
The new relationship with God: The new justice (Mt 5:17-48) which does not
expect a reward for practicing almsgiving, for praying and fasting (Mt 6: 1-18).
• Mathew 6: 19-34:
The new relationship with the goods of the earth (Mt 6: 19-21), do not look at the world with a jaundiced eye
(Mt 6: 22-23), do not serve God and money (Mt 6: 24), do not be concerned about
food and drink (Mt 6: 23-34).
• Mathew 7: 1-23: The
new relationship with other people: do not look for the splinter in your brother’s eye (Mt 7: 1-5); do not
throw your pearls in front of pigs (Mt 7: 6); the Gospel today: do not be afraid to ask things
from God (Mt 7: 7-11); and the Golden Rule
(Mt 7: 12); choose the hard and narrow roads (Mt 7: 13-14), beware of
false prophets (Mt 7: 15-20).
• Mathew 7: 21-29:
Conclusion: do not only speak but also practice (Mt 7: 21-23); the community
built on this basis will resist the storm (Mt 7: 24-27). The result of these
words is a new conscience before the scribes and the doctors (Mt 7: 28-29).
• Mathew 7: 7-8:
Jesus’ three recommendations: to ask, to seek and to knock: “Ask and you shall
receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you!” A
person is asked. The response depends both on the person as well as on the
insistence with which it is asked (cf Lk 18: 1-7). The seeking is defined by
some criteria. The better the criteria, the more certainty one can have of
finding what one is looking for. To knock at the door is done with the hope
that there will be someone on the other side of the door at home. Jesus completes
the recommendation, offering the certainty of the response: “Ask and you shall
receive; seek and you shall find; knock and it will be opened; because anyone
who asks receives, and anyone who seeks will find and to anyone who knocks the
door will be opened.” That means that when we ask God, He listens to our
petition. When we seek God, He allows Himself to be found (Isa 5: 5-6). When we
knock on the door of God’s house, He opens the door for us.
• Mathew 7: 9-11:
Jesus’ question to the people. “Is there anyone among you who would hand his
son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked
for a fish?” Here appears the simple and direct way which Jesus has for
teaching the things of God to the people. Speaking to the parents, He connects
Himself to the daily experience. Between the lines of the question one can
guess the response the people yelled out: “No!” because nobody gives a stone to
a son who asks for bread. There is no father and no mother who would give a
snake to their son when he asks for a fish.
And Jesus draws the conclusion: “If you, then, evil as you
are, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your
Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” Jesus calls us evil to
stress the certainty of being listened to by God when we ask Him for something.
And
this, because if we who are not saints, know how to give
good things to our children, how much more is the Father in heaven. This
comparison has as its objective to take away from our heart any doubt
concerning the prayer addressed to God with trust. God will listen! Luke adds
that God will give the
Holy Spirit (Lk 11: 13).
• Mathew 7: 12: The
Golden Rule. "So always treat others as you would like them to treat you;
that is the law and the prophets.” This is the summary of the entire Old
Testament, of the law and the prophets. And this is the summary of everything
which God wants to tell us, the summary of all the teaching of Jesus. This
Golden Rule is not found only in the teaching of Jesus, but also, in one way or
other, in all religions. This responds to the most profound and more universal
sentiment of humanity.
Personal Questions
• Ask, seek, knock on
the door: How do you pray and speak with God?
• Are you persistent
in what you ask for, as the widow in Lk 18: 1-7 was, or do you give up after
not getting results immediately? Would you pray persistently (and insistently)
for years, or just months, or just a week?
• How are your wants
aligned with what God would want for you?
• How do you live the
Golden Rule?
Concluding Prayer
Lord I praise Your name for Your faithful love and Your
constancy; Your promises
surpass even Your fame.
You heard me on the day when I called,
and You gave new strength to my heart. (Ps 138: 2-3)
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét