Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

I think it’s easy to struggle with this Gospel. At the surface level, the message we hear is that if we are persistent in prayer, we will get whatever we ask for, no matter what it is. But we know from experience that this simply isn’t true. There are things we could have prayed for for decades and still never received.

So to understand what the Lord is saying, we have to look deeper and see these situations for what they really are.

In the first story, a man asks for bread for a neighbor who is visiting. His request isn’t selfish. Someone has arrived at his door, and he lives in a culture that values hospitality immensely. He needs to fulfill his obligations and serve his guest. His persistence is rooted in love of neighbor. That love, joined to persistence, brings about the good outcome.

In the second story, Jesus sets up an intentionally absurd situation. A child asks for fish and an egg. Would you give him a scorpion and a snake? Of course not. Then Jesus asks how much more our Father will give us the Holy Spirit.

Notice that he doesn’t really address the child’s request for fish and an egg—for food to eat. He points us to the Father’s gift of the Holy Spirit. When we ask for these good things, the Father will give us the Holy Spirit.

And so I think what the Lord is saying to us is this: rather than spending all our time praying about the things of this world, pray for the gifts that are eternal. Pray for a greater share in the Holy Spirit. Pray for the gift of wisdom. Pray for the gift of peace. Pray for those things that, once you receive them and integrate them into your lives, are yours forever. They truly last, even into eternity.

Ask for those gifts because God wants to give them to you, but he will not force them upon you. Be persistent in asking. Trust that he will give them to you because he is a loving Father.

I don’t think most of us spend time praying to God for a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Yet that is precisely what we need. Almost every challenge we face in this life, we could overcome with his help. We could receive the guidance we need. We would have the answers we need. We would have the love, the patience, the peace, and all those things we need if we only had that.

So we should begin to cultivate that relationship actively. Pray to God for a greater share in the gifts we received at baptism and confirmation. Ask that we might come to know the Holy Spirit more and more, and receive his help in our daily lives. This is a gift we will always hold on to, and we are certain that God will always give it to us, because he has promised it.