Thursday of the 1st Week of Lent
Now in the days of Ahasuerus ( this is Ahasuerus who reigned from India even to Ethiopia, over one hundred twenty-seven provinces ),
I will give you thanks with my whole heart. Before the gods, I will sing praises to you. I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all. In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.
Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me. The Lord will fulfill that which concerns me. Your loving kindness, Lord, endures forever. Don't forsake the works of your own hands.
"Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! Therefore, whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
The readings reveal something profound about the nature of asking and receiving. In the Gospel, Jesus doesn't simply tell us to pray—he invites us into a relationship where asking becomes as natural as breathing. Notice how the progression moves from asking to seeking to knocking, each requiring more engagement, more persistence, more of ourselves.
What emerges is a God who delights in giving good gifts, not because we've earned them, but because that's who God is. The comparison Jesus makes is startling: even flawed human parents know how to give their children what they need. How much more does our heavenly Father understand what we truly require?
The psalm captures this beautifully—there's a confidence in the psalmist's voice that comes from experience. "In the day that I called, you answered me." This isn't wishful thinking; it's the testimony of someone who has learned to trust God's timing and God's ways.
Here's where Lent becomes practical: asking requires humility. We have to acknowledge we don't have everything we need. Seeking demands patience—the willingness to keep looking even when answers don't come immediately. Knocking means persistence, continuing to approach God even when the door seems closed.
The Golden Rule at the passage's end isn't just tacked on—it's the fruit of this kind of prayer life. When we truly understand ourselves as beloved children who receive good gifts from God, we naturally begin extending that same generosity to others.
Consider the ordinary moments today when you might naturally ask for something—help with a difficult conversation, patience in traffic, wisdom for a decision. These aren't interruptions to prayer; they're invitations into it.
What would change if you truly believed God wants to give you good things? How might your relationships shift if you approached others with the same generosity God shows you?