prayer

Esther c:12,14-16, 23-25; Psalm 138 Lord, on the day i called for help, you answered me;

Matthew 7:7-12

Today Jesus gives us a catechesis on prayer. 

He helps us realize that prayer is more than just asking for what we want and getting it.  Prayer is deeper than an invitation to petition but rather it is an invitation to conversion.  This is why it is one of the tenants of Lent: prayer, fasting, almsgiving.

We all can relate to Esther in her prayer in the first reading, "Help me!" is the resounding theme of her request.  She has found that she is in complete dependence on God, "Help me who am alone and have no help but you, O Lord, my God."

In deed the primary movement of conversion through prayer is growing in our own awareness of being dependent.  God does not want us to be autonomous, the rugged individual who is far to independent for him, but rather he wants us to be those who have the heart of child, who is aware of their need and dependence on him.

Jesus in the gospel flushes this out, "ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be open; for everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened...how much more will your heavenly Father give good things those who ask."

Three things:

Jesus helps us understand, above all, that God is one who hears and speaks.  He is person, not some distant entity in the clouds.  He longs to hear us ask, seek, and knock.  He desires a relationship with each of us.  He is not just a father figure, but in reality from all eternity He is Our Father.

Secondly,Jesus also wants us to recognize God is powerful.  He can grant everything.  He is not limited.  Prayer is the concrete recognition of God's immense power and glory.  When we pray, we open up to this eternal reality of supreme do-ability, "with God all things are possible."

 Thirdly, Jesus points to the fact that God though unlimited in his power confines himself to giving "good things."  It is the Father's power and goodness that holds the world and all together.  God is love and it is this good love that finds a way to answer the hopes of those that He loves.   If we meditate on God's goodness, we discover that God can give everything but he will not just give anything.  There is purpose and meaning behind the gift God disposes upon those who ask, seek, and knock.

Prayer is not just about getting what we want, but it is about wanting what God gives and seeking to find the "goodness" that often times is disguised in the answer bestowed.  We pray in the Eucharistic prayer III, "to God from whom all good things come."

As we ponder the cross, we should be humbled by the goodness of such a gift, such an answer to our souls' deepest longing, a longing of true communion, a long for real prayer and dialogue. Gazing upon the cross our understanding of prayer is blown wide open, the fragments of our limited  and self-centered expectations lie shattered on the floor.  At the cross, we begin to understand the deep and profound and all powerful goodness that the Father wields so that love can find a way so that love can bring forth the answer.

In the midst of prayer as we spend time with goodness itself, we slowly become transformed to be like the goodness we ponder.  Here begins our true conversion, here is why we must pray as part of our Lent journey, for conversion is about goodness transforming us.