Thursday of the Twenty-seventh
Week in Ordinary Time
(Malachi 3:13-20b; Luke 11:5-13)
Why do some people have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps they do not want to feel foolish should God not grant what they ask. Or maybe they like to consider themselves as not owing God any favors. Or perhaps they just don’t think God cares enough to help. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free us from these errant ideas about God.
First, Jesus suggests that God may be considered a friend to whom we may go with little as well as big problems. That is, we might ask God for a loaf of bread just as well to heal our mother’s cancer. But, Jesus indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying someone He knows. No, God is like a father – the second image – who grants what we need because He deeply loves us. That is, God seeks only what is good for us.
Why do some people have difficulty asking God for help? Perhaps they do not want to feel foolish should God not grant what they ask. Or maybe they like to consider themselves as not owing God any favors. Or perhaps they just don’t think God cares enough to help. In the gospel today Jesus provides two images to free us from these errant ideas about God.
First, Jesus suggests that God may be considered a friend to whom we may go with little as well as big problems. That is, we might ask God for a loaf of bread just as well to heal our mother’s cancer. But, Jesus indicates, God is better than a friend because He will assist us not just to avoid the embarrassment of denying someone He knows. No, God is like a father – the second image – who grants what we need because He deeply loves us. That is, God seeks only what is good for us.
There is a difference between God’s friendship and every other
friendship or, for that matter, God’s Fatherhood and any other fatherhood. God bestows on friends and children alike the Holy
Spirit. The Spirit is intangible yet it
is the best gift of all. Possessing the
Spirit, we are charged joy, love, and wisdom.
