Reflection for February 18, 2016: Thursday of the First Week of Lent

            For many of us, today’s Gospel may seem to run contrary to our experiences. How many of us have prayed for something, and seemingly gotten no answer? Does this mean that God has not heard our prayers- that he has not answered us, or we are somehow not praying hard enough? How do we reconcile what seems to happen in our prayers with today’s Gospel?

            God answers all prayers- however, he does not always answer them in the way we expect.  Sometimes the answer is no, or not yet. Sometimes the answer is “I have something better in store for you, if you trust me.” Jesus reminds us in the Gospel that our Heavenly Father will bestow “good things” on those who ask for them. God, who knows us better than we know ourselves, knows what our needs truly are- and is waiting to give us these good things- if we only ask for them.

            In order for our prayer to bear more fruit, it is important to recognize that God is not a divine “genie,” whose only purpose is to grant the wishes of humankind. Prayers of petition are  important, but unless we are also willing to pray for knowledge of God’s will, these prayers of petition can only take us so far. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Colossians, The goal of our prayer is to “attain full knowledge of God’s will through perfect wisdom and spiritual insight,” in order that we may “lead a life worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way.”

            Praying for and accepting God’s will is difficult, because it requires us to let go of our selfish wants and desires, and accept God’s will as our own.  This requires great trust.  Trust that God will indeed provide us with good things, which will help us to grow closer to Him, and seek after the life which is to come. 

            Each day at Mass, when we pray the Our Father, I challenge you to truly think about the meaning of the words “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This is just one example of a way in which we pray every day for knowledge of God’s will for our lives. Do we take this part of the prayer seriously? Or do we gloss over it as we say it, because it has become routine? When we truly make this prayer our own, and begin to accept God’s will, we are better able to see how God does answer prayer, and we will be able to recognize that His answers to our prayers are continually guiding us to knowledge of his will.