door will be opened.If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.”

Reflections

“Ask, and it will be given to you.”We know quite well St. Au- gustine of Hippo who lived a rather naughty life. A story is told that his mother, St. Monica, re- quested a bishop to talk to him. But the bishop declined saying it is a futile move. However, rec- ognizing her sincere prayer and her tears for the conversion of her son, the bishop said, “Go, continue to live so; it cannot be that the son of those tears will perish.” And we know how this story ends: answered prayers.The gospel points to the certainty  of  God’s   generosity in answering prayers. In other words, God ALWAYS answers prayers. But there is one impor- tant thing we ought to bear in mind: we need to allow God to answer our prayers in the man- ner that he knows best. It can happen that we will not know what to receive when  we  ask, or what to find when we seek, or which door will be opened when we knock, but for certain, not one person who approaches God in earnest supplication will go empty-handed. © Copyright Bible Diary 2019