Wednesday in the Eleventh Week of Ordinary Time

In the Gospels Jesus says, “Ask and you shall receive.  When you pray in secret, your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.   If you ask anything in my name, the Father will grant it.”

But sometimes we storm heaven with our prayers and they seem to go unheard.  Are they unanswered because we asked for something harmful?  C.S. Lewis said we will spend eternity thanking God for those prayers of ours that he didn’t answer!    

Yet, Jesus says, “Ask and you shall receive.”  Because Jesus first taught us that our most fundamental petition governing all others is “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  Whatever it is, we are always asking that our prayers be answered in ways that fulfill God’s loving plans for us. 

In our abandonment to Divine Providence, let us remember that our petitions are necessary, really necessary for the fulfillment of God’s will, because there are many favors or graces that God wills to give because we pray for them.  If we do not ask, we do not do his will.  So, “Ask and you shall receive.”