Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)
Why is it that some people – mostly men? – have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps we do not want to feel foolish should God not answer our prayers as we expect. Or maybe we like to think of ourselves as independent on Him as well as everyone else. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free us from our debilitating reluctance to seek assistance.
First, Jesus suggests that we may consider God as a friend to whom we may go with our problems. But, he indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying a needy associate, much less to quiet a persistent acquaintance. No, God is the perfect friend who cares for us like a father – the second image -- loves his children. That is, God seeks only what is truly good for us. The difference between God’s friendship and every other friendship -- or, for that matter, God’s Fatherhood and any other fatherhood -- is that God can afford us the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit, who fills us with joy, love, and peace.
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