THE LINE TO HEAVEN THAT NEVER GETS BUSY!

MARCH 17, 2011

By Lorenz S. Centino, Jr.

MATTHEW 7: 7 - 12

7 "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11 If you then, who are 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! 12 So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

PERSONAL REFLECTIONS:

A BLESSED THURSDAY TO ALL!

The catastrophe that struck Japan literally melts our hearts. Just by the sight of the ravaged places and destroyed structures and buildings, and the on-going recovery of dead bodies, one can feel Japan’s unspoken cry for help. Nations of the world are making available whatever resources and assistance they can offer. Catastrophe can really challenge what is best and noble in everyone to reach out and be of help. No need to hear the actual voice of the Japanese crying for help to move people to extend whatever help. Japan’s desperate situation is already a language that speaks eloquently of its need for care and assistance. To many of us, our PRAYERS are the least that we can offer to them.

In the Gospel today Jesus is encouraging us to deliberately knock, seek, and ask. Jesus is admonishing us to PRAY! And he gives us the clear assurance that when we knock, a door will be opened for us; and if we seek, we will find; and if we ask, we will receive. Even though God certainly knows well what we need, Jesus is directly instructing us to pray for our NEEDS. And he gives us the PROMISE of an ANSWER for God is a benevolent provider.

In the Gospel yesterday Jesus was teaching us how to pray by addressing God as our FATHER. In the Gospel today, Jesus presents PRAYER as our DIRECT LINE to God that can never become busy. Prayer is our line to God that can never experience any DISCONNECTION, unless we are the ones cutting off the line. Prayer offers a LINE to HEAVEN that will surely be answered by someone that Jesus taught us to consider our FATHER. And so in the Gospel today Jesus assures us that God, as our Father, will grant us what we need. For Jesus said, “what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are 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!” This passage pictures to us the graciousness of God to provide us beyond what we ask for. God’s providence grants us what is best more than what we thought we really need.

In the Gospel, Jesus concluded by asking us to do to others what we want/wish them to do for us. For us to know the best thing that we can do for others, which others can also do unto us, the Gospel is asking us to become LIKE the Father. A prayerful person is a person who is transformed gradually into the image of God. How God relates with us, like that of a Father, must also be the way how we should treat and relate with others. How we want the Father to deal with us, should also be the way we should deal with others. In doing so, we can do to others what we want them to do to us. Just like what the Gospel yesterday is telling us, if we want forgiveness from God we must forgive others first. And the Gospel today clarifies why we should forgive others first. We forgive others because time will also come that we will need forgiveness from them. So Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” The Lord Jesus had already reminded us that, in the last judgment, what we do to our neighbors has a bearing on how God will judge us.