God's Promises

I remember Fr. Benedict Groeschel every day in prayer.  I’ve read all the books he wrote during his life; His words have influenced my life.  But I especially remember the nights when I was at The Defending The Faith Conference, held each summer at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.  On Saturday nights would be a Holy Hour of adoration, and at the end Fr. Benedict would walk up and down each aisle of the auditorium, carrying the monstrance containing Our Lord, with a single spotlight shining on It, the only light in the room.  And I remember how Fr. Benedict occasionally stopped, turned and blessed the nearby people with Our Lord.  And I recall the time when he blessed me and I knew God was with me at that moment, and within me like never before.  Truly Fr Benedict was someone who brought God to me, and he still does.

Each Lent I read a book of his daily Lenten meditations (The King, Crucified and Risen).  As it often happens, his words touch my heart, like these yesterday:

 

            How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask                 him!
                                                                                                - MATTHEW 7:11

When we pray, inevitably we find ourselves asking God for things.  I used to feel guilty about this, but I gave up that particular guilt.  It came to me that God obviously wants to give us things.  God is a giver --- the great giver.  Consider God the Father in the incredible beauty of creation, God the Son in the immense riches of grace He obtained for us by His life and death, and God the Holy Spirit in His constant inspiration and His holding of all creation in existence from moment to moment.  Giving, giving, giving.  When we are trying to relate to such a Being, it is rather obvious that we should ask for things.  This is precisely the advice Our Lord gives us: “Ask, and you shall receive, seek, and you shall find” (Mt 7:7).

The challenge is to ask in the right way, otherwise, religion becomes a grab bag, a kind of immature ritual.  Those who go to God as spoiled children are entirely disappointed by Him.  A thousand times I have heard the words, “I really prayed hard for …, but God did not give it to me.”

Christ promised that God would answer our prayers.  “Ask, and you shall receive.”  He did not promise that we would receive exactly what we wanted or thought we needed.  Rather, in answering our prayers, He gives us what is best for us in God’s plan.  How many times have you later realized that what you asked for would have been disastrous for you or someone else?  God’s will for us is the best.

What about obviously good things we ask for and do not receive?  I think of the thousands of people who had loved ones in the World Trade Center and who prayed desperately but they did not come home.  When people do evil things or nature gets unruly, as it does during an earthquake, many human beings can get caught in the way.  They pray fervently, but apparently the worst happens anyway.  Here is where faith must come in.  After the shock, grief, and anger are past, one must sit down and decide to believe again in the goodness of God.  Often this is not as difficult as it may seem, because in the course of time we experience what St. Paul meant when he said, “We know that all things work for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28).

But there are times when we cannot see any good.  This is when we must believe and trust that God will bring the best out in eternity.  If you have trouble doing this, think of the sorrows of the mother of Jesus.  Surely she must have prayed that the cup of suffering would pass Him by.  It did not.  She held on until the Resurrection, only to lose Him again.  She had to wait until the journey of her own life was finished.  Yet it is clear from the life of the Blessed Virgin that although all things work together unto good for those who believe, it is never easy.

Prayer:
Lord, Jesus, increase my faith so that no matter what happens, I may believe and trust in You.  Help me to know that I will receive the good gifts that I need to go on.  Amen.

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“That I may die to the world for love of Thee,
as Thou hast died on the cross for love of me.”