Thursday of the First Week of Lent

EST C:12, 14-16, 23-25/MT 7:7-12

Today’s readings reflect on one simple principle that provokes a response of prayer in our lives – it is very simple to ask the Lord for help when everything seems to be going astray as we venture our Christian lives apart from the Lord. In her “mortal anguish,” Queen Esther asked the Lord to “save us from the hands of our enemies; turn our mourning into gladness and our sorrows into wholeness.” We can take the words of Queen Esther with the notion of the aforementioned intercessory response, but we also can view them in another light. If we reflect more dexterously upon Psalm 138, we find that the initial call of petition to the Lord, in turn, ensues an equal response of gratitude and praise. Gratitude and praise are sometimes the more difficult of the types of prayer as we must become humble when engaging them.  

Let us understand that in our time of suffering during this penitential season we must ask, seek, and knock as Jesus deciphers to his disciples. Yet, when we receive our fill and more, it is proper to give praise to the Heavenly Father for his wonderful works. In this same capacity we are taught the Golden Rule – “Do to others whatever you would have them do to you.” The Father is as forgiving and even more than we are to those people around us. 

Where can I grow in gratitude and praise for those around me as well as my Heavenly Father? 

Am I capable of asking the Lord for a hand, even before I arrive and fall prostrate in mortal anguish as Queen Esther did? 

What do I ask from the Lord? 

Am I answered? 

What should I ask of the Lord this Lent? 

Am I willing to do this? 

 

Vincent Koehl
Peer Minister