Wednesday, March 4, 2009

1st Week of Lent: Thursday

FIRST READING (Esther 14:1, 3-5, 12-15)
Esther the queen, seized with deathly anxiety, fled to the Lord; and she prayed to the Lord God of Israel, and said: "O my Lord, thou only art our King; help me, who am alone and have no helper but thee, for my danger is in my hand. Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that thou, O Lord, didst take Israel out of all the nations, and our fathers from among all their ancestors, for an everlasting inheritance, and that thou didst do for them all that thou didst promise.

"Remember, O Lord; make thyself known in this time of our affliction, and give me courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! Put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion, and turn his heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him. But save us by thy hand, and help me, who am alone and have no helper but thee, O Lord. Thou hast knowledge of all things."


GOSPEL (Matthew 7:7-12)
Jesus said to his disciples, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

"Or 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!

"So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. "


REFLECTION
Ask and you shall receive. As we see in the readings today, Jesus is encouraging us to ask for what we need. Even in the prayer he taught us, the Our Father, there is a petition for “our daily bread.” Sometimes it may be difficult to ask God for help . . . To read the rest of this reflection, click HERE.


PRAYER
Grant to us, Lord,
we beseech thee,
the spirit to think and do
always such things as are right;
that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee,
may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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