February 26, 2026
Thursday of the First Week in
Lent
Lectionary: 227
Reading
I
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/022626.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.
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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.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1015g/
LECTIO DIVINA
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
costbut 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: 1921), 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)
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