ASKING ANYWAY

“Until now you have not asked for anything in My name…” –John 16:24

When I take my youngest son to piano lessons, he always asks me to buy him an ice cream cone. Sometimes I have no money or time; other times I do buy him the cone. Yet even if it’s been weeks without a cone, he never neglects to ask.

Jesus Himself tells us: “I give you My assurance, whatever you ask the Father, He will give you in My name” (Jn 16:23). Often Christians are disappointed when the answer to a sincere prayer request was not what was asked for. One response is to lose faith in Jesus’ promise, get discouraged, and not ask Jesus for certain things. Another response is the childlike response of my son: to keep asking persistently, never losing heart (Lk 18:1).

So much is wrong with today’s world. Is it because we have asked selfishly, and not rightly, that is, in Jesus name? (Jas 4:3) I wonder if “until now” we have asked for much of anything in Jesus’ name (Jn 16:24). We need the Holy Spirit to be able to ask in Jesus’ name (Jn 16:24) and to do so persistently. During this Pentecost novena, let us fervently beg to receive the Holy Spirit deeply, so that we may ask in Jesus’ name for His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10). Come, Holy Spirit!

PRAYER: Father, we ask, in Jesus’ name, for Catholics to repent deeply, receive the Holy Spirit in fullness, live the radical newness of their Baptism daily, be perfect in holiness, desire to attend Mass daily, foster and receive religious vocations, evangelize the world, change the culture of death to a civilization of love and life, serve the poor and lowly, submit in unity to the Magisterium…
PROMISE: “Ask and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” —Jn 16:24
PRAISE: Sts. Nereus and Achilleus cried out “Abba,” threw down their arms as soldiers, and gave their lives over to Christ.