Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
Jesus was praying in
a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us
to pray just as John taught his disciples." He said to them, "When
you pray, say: Father, hallowed be
your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us
our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us
to the final test."
And he said to them,
"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 the visitor 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 to 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?"
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Reflection:
Can we live life
without prayer? No we cannot live life without prayer because prayer sustains
life without prayer there would be no life. This is the guiding principle of
those who are prayerful and those who have developed a profound relationship
with God.
On the other hand
many would also say that there’s life even without prayer. This would be for those who do not pray and
who seldom pray. But if we look at the lives of those who do not pray they may
seem externally ok most especially if they have material riches.
However, deep inside
them they may not be ok they may be yearning for that something that could give
them peace and contentment. And this peace and contentment they can only have
when they learn how to pray.
So we learn now the
importance of prayer in a person’s life. But why do we need to pray? Because we
need God, that’s why we need to pray and we recognize the primacy of God over
anything else in this world.
In the gospel, Jesus
presents to us the importance of prayer in one’s life. That prayer should be
simple, with a heart and persistent. Why? For the reason that God listens more
to those who pray with simplicity, with a heart and with persistence.
Let us therefore
have a prayerful life because we communicate with God when we pray. This is where
we open our whole being to God and in the process we also listen to God. –
Marino J. Dasmarinas
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