This weekend Jesus invites us to prayer school. We all need this. He teaches us today two attitudes that should form the background of every Christian’s prayer. One is persistence and the other is confidence.
Since we are imperfect and live in an imperfect world, we sometimes project our own imperfections onto God. We think that He, like us, is selfish, easily angered and resentful. As a result, we hesitate to open our hearts to Him in prayer.
But Jesus tears down these misconceptions by stressing that God is our Father, better than even the best earthly fathers. If earthly fathers know how to be generous with their children, we can be sure that God is much more like that with us. He won’t give us stones when we ask for bread. Jesus makes some bold statements in this Gospel passage. He says that whoever asks will receive, whoever seeks will find, and whoever knocks will have the door opened. Did He really mean that? Haven’t we experienced times when our prayers were not answered?
St. Augustine understood Christian prayer better than anyone. His mother, St. Monica, had spent almost 20 years begging God day and night with tears to convert her heretical and pleasure-loving son. His mother’s experience helped him understand why God doesn’t always give us what we ask for right away.
He wrote, “Suppose you want to fill some sort of bag, and you know the bulk of what you will be given, so you stretch the bag… You know how big the object is that you want to put in and you see that the bag is narrow, so you increase its capacity by stretching it. In the same way, by delaying the fulfillment of desire, God stretches it; by making us desire, He expands the soul, and by this expansion, He increases its capacity.”
God never ignores our prayers. If we keep asking with sincerity and confidence in His goodness, we are guaranteed to receive, and it will probably be much more than we could have imagined.
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?
- I am very grateful to Deacon Steven Morello from the Missionary Strategic Planning from the Archdiocese of Detroit who was our guest and homilist last weekend. He shared with us more information about the Family of Parishes that we became a part of together with Our Lady of Loretto, St. Valentine, and St. John XXIII (three of them in Redford). I think his message was clear and simple. I am hoping that you have a little bit better vision of what’s ahead of us. We all still have our questions, concerns, maybe even fears, but if we would be open and cooperative, God will give us His grace to be strong not only as St. Genevieve – St. Maurice parish but also as a Family of Parishes, sharing our resources, celebrating our faith together and bringing more people for the Lord! Please pray for our Family of Parishes, Fr. Greg, Fr. Socorro, myself, Deacons: Lawrence, Steven, and Ron, for the staffs, and all of our parishioners, may we all become one holy and united family of faith.
- Last Saturday I received my new assignment letter from Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron. I am no longer administrator of St. Genevieve – St. Maurice Parish, I am a Priest In Solidum, for another 6 years to care for St. Genevieve – St. Maurice, Our Lady of Loretto, St. Valentine, and St. John XXIII. I have been blessed being a part of this parish since July 2020, and now I am ready to continue my ministry serving not only in this church, but also within the Family of Parishes. As you and your intentions always remain in my prayers, I humbly ask you for your prayers and support. St. Michael the Archangel pray for us. St. Genevieve & St. Maurice pray for us.
With Christ’s Peace. Fr. Tom