Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
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 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:
Do you
believe in the power of persistence? The power of persistence tells us that for
as long as we don’t give-up. And for as long as we continue to trust in Jesus
we would be able to have what we want. Therefore persistence always pays off,
but should we continue to persist when the horizon is dark?
In the
gospel, Jesus tells us that we have to persist even if it seems useless to
persist for those who persist are always rewarded by God. Come to think of it,
persistence gives us great rewards even in our worldly activities. Take for
example an average student who persist in his studies he surely would be able
to hurdle his studies because he is persistent.
However,
not all of us have persistent mindset; many of us are easily discouraged when
we see no positive result with what we are doing. So we fail and fail to
achieve what we want because we gave-up without trying very hard first.
Lest we
forget, many or almost all of our life’s battles are won because we are
persistent but why do we persist? We persist because we believe that God always
rewards those who are persistent and those who couple their persistence with
humble and expectant trust in God. -
Marino J. Dasmarinas