“For everyone who asks, receives.” – Luke 11:10

       Today’s Gospel made me read my old gratitude journals. I thank the Lord for His faithfulness as documented in those pages — for the gift of family and home, healing and wholeness, good friends and good food, for financial blessings in times of need, for rest and travels, for tasks accomplished and dreams fulfilled. Indeed, if you ask, you will receive.

       Consider today’s reading: “A record book was written before him of those who fear the Lord and esteem his name” (Malachi 3:16). God wants to remember. Maybe He also reads our journals when we are sleeping.

       If you haven’t been recording your blessings, try it. Write down your prayers and how God has answered them. You will be amazed. It will give you hope and increase your faith. Your prayers will turn to praise. It’s like having your own Facebook Memories, where you will be reminded of what God has done in your life.

       I believe God wants to bless us — we only need to ask. And when we have received, to give thanks! Marjorie Ann Duterte (marjorie.

Reflection:“Gratitude is a flower that blooms in noble souls.” (Pope Francis)

Dearest Father, thank You for all our answered prayers. Thank You for blessing us with every good and perfect gift. Amen.

Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos, pray for us.

The prophecies of Judgment Day seem to indicate that there are many who will not be able to enter the Kingdom of God. We cannot know for sure how many will be saved or how many, if any, will be damned. This depends on how each of us chooses to live our lives. It must be like this, or else there is no point to our free will. We are neither free nor self-determining individuals unless we have the choice to reject God.

13 You have defied me in word, says the Lord, yet you ask, “What have we spoken against you?” 14 You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, and going about in penitential dress in awe of the Lord of hosts? 15 Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity.” 16 Then they who fear the Lord spoke with one another, and the Lord listened attentively; and a record book was written before him of those who fear the Lord and trust in his name. 17 And they shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, my own special possession, on the day I take action. And I will have  compassion on them, as a man has compassion on his son who serves him. 18 Then you will again see the distinction between the just and the wicked; between the one who serves God, and the one who does not serve him. 19 For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven, when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble, and the day that is coming will set them on fire, leaving them neither root nor branch, says the Lord of hosts. 20 But for you who fear my name, there will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

R: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

1 Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked nor walks in the way of sinners, nor sits in the company of the insolent, 2 but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night. (R) 3 He is like a tree planted near running water, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does, prospers. (R) 4 Not so the wicked, not so; they are like chaff which the wind drives away. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked vanishes. (R)

Perseverance in prayer is essential if we want to be disciples of Jesus. Discipleship is synonymous with perseverance. Jesus encourages us to persevere in prayer, with the promise that God is true to His Word and that He answers all our prayers. Unfortunately, some of His answers will not be what we expect. This is fortunate for us because God knows what we need the most, and He will do what He can to ensure that we get what we need.

Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.

5 Jesus said to his disciples: “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7 and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. 9 “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12 Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13 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?”

Read the Bible in one year Wisdom 16-19

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

TO PRAY IN JESUS’ NAME

In the movie Spiderman 3, Eddie Brock, Peter Parker’s rival at the Daily Bugle, has just lost his job after Peter exposed his dishonesty. Despondent and vengeful, he chanced upon a church and prayed in this manner, “God, I don’t know if you exist. But if you do, I ask you, kill Peter Parker!” His prayer was not answered. But what if he added, “I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus,” would his prayer have been answered?

       Jesus continues to teach us today on the nature of prayer. Yesterday, we learned that prayer is not bending God’s mind to ours but ours to God. Today, Jesus explicitly tells us that the Father delights in hearing our prayers just as any earthly father delights in giving what his children ask for. “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (vv. 9-10).

       But there is a rejoinder and reminder: “Which of you, fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?” (vv. 11-12). Even when his son is dying to have a poisonous snake or a scorpion, no good father will accede to that request. But isn’t it true that many times, in our ignorance and immaturity, we actually ask God for a “snake and a scorpion”? And in the same ignorance and misguided affection, fathers at times give in to such requests?

       This is why today’s Gospel is good news. God, in His infinite wisdom and discerning love, can weed through our immature and ignorant requests. We can rest assured that what He gives us will not be snake and scorpion but that which is best for our well-being. This is why, in the end, Jesus bids us to ask for the Holy Spirit (v. 13) — for wisdom, guidance and discernment. When we have the Spirit, all our prayers will always be good and godly. In the end, the Spirit is all we need to ask for. Fr. Joel Jason

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

When your prayers are not answered, do you immediately retreat in disappointment? Leave some room for God’s purification.

Lord, help me to keep on seeking, asking and knocking until I find the door that truly leads to You. Amen.