The gospel for Thursday of the 27th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke 11. Jesus said to his disciples, suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey, and I have nothing to offer him. And he says in reply, from within, do not bother me. The door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything. I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.

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 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? This is a story about prayer, about seeking and asking from another or from God, something that you need, something that you don’t have. And what he’s encouraging people to have is persistence in their prayer. You ask, tell God what you need, and then you basically have to be searching for the answer, seeking the answer, and then when you find it, it’s like a place you enter into. You knock, a door opens, and you have what you need.

The point being, the process of asking God for things is not as simple as saying, please, I need this. And then just waiting, no, you ask, you seek the answer, and when you find it, you become someone new. Take a few moments to reflect on these thoughts, and then I will close with a prayer. The Closing Prayer Father, when we ask you for something, give us the patience to wait for your answer. It comes often in ways that we would never expect. Help us to be on the alert when we ask you to do something, so that when you do it, we will receive it with a generous and thankful heart.

And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.