Reading
Matthew 7:7-12
7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Meditation
"Ask" ... "seek"... "knock". Jesus' words make us understand that we must pray insistently to obtain what we need, and first of all the grace to obey his precepts, which often counteract our self-love.
We ask, like a traveler who has lost his way; we seek, like the merchant who seeks the precious pearl (Mt 13:45-46); we knock, like the importunate friend (Lk 11:5-8). Not just asking, but seeking, imply the use of all the means available to us to obtain - for ourselves and for others - what we ask for; act as if everything depended on us, pray as if everything depended on God (Ignatius of Loyola).
If we ask what is suitable for our good, the Lord will hear us free of charge, just like a Father, who does not sell or rent to his son but gives with love. The Father knows what we need (Mt 6: 8) and if we ask him for a poisonous fruit instead of bread, he will rightly deny it to us.
God is more concerned with us than our fathers and mothers have been, more than we are with our children. If carnal parents can make mistakes or lack something, God is infinitely wise, infinitely good, infinitely rich in all grace. We can therefore run in his presence for every need.
Jesus exhorts us to behave towards our neighbors with the same spirit of concern. The "golden rule" is found, both in the negative form ("Do not do to others ...") and in the positive one ("Anything you want them to do to you ..."), also in Jewish and pagan sources (Buddhist and Hindu, for example) prior to the Gospel. Privileging the positive formula, Jesus underlines the importance of charity in action, as the sum of all the Law and the prophets, and as the fulfillment of the evangelical precept "love your neighbor as yourself" (Mt 22:39).
Prayer
May your Spirit, o Lord, intercede in our hearts, so that we can ask for what is good for us and for all your children; and may your grace make us solicitous for those in need. Amen.
- Rev. Dr. Luca Vona
