THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF LENT

Esther 14:1,3-4,11,13-14/Ps.138:1-2b,2bcd -3,7d-8/Matthew 7:7-12

Today’s readings invite us into the prayer of petition – the prayer we make when we recognize how much we truly need God.
In the first reading, Esther cries out: “Lord, I am alone and have none but you.” There are moments in life when we feel exactly like that – when problems overwhelm us, when illness comes, when plans fail, or when we face decisions, we cannot handle alone.

It is often in such moments that our prayer becomes most sincere. Need strips us of self-sufficiency and teaches us to depend on God. Beloved in Christ, these are moments when our total dependence on the Lord for our personal survival is crystal clear to us. we come before the Lord in our poverty, our vulnerability and in desperation we cry for his help.
Nevertheless, Jesus in the Gospel, tells us that prayer should not be only for desperate moments. He says: Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking. Prayer is meant to be constant, not only in crisis but in everyday life: before work begins, when travelling, when caring for family, when facing small worries and great ones alike.
Yet we know that sometimes God does not answer as we expect. However, the truth of this teaching is that God will not abandon you when you feel completely isolated and truly desperate.

Saint Paul prayed again and again for the removal of his “thorn in the flesh,” but it remained. Still, Paul discovered something deeper – that God’s power was working through his weakness. Sometimes the miracle God gives is not the removal of the burden, but the strength to carry it.

Many of us have experienced this: we prayed for a problem to disappear, but instead we received peace, patience, or courage. The situation may not change immediately, but we change, and that is already God at work.
As the psalm says: “On the day I called, you answered, you increased the strength of my soul.”
So, prayer is never wasted. When we ask, we always receive – if not what we requested, then the grace we truly need. When we knock, a door always opens — often the door of a stronger heart.
Every sincere prayer strengthens the soul. And when the soul is strengthened, we discover that we are never truly alone – because God is already with us. May God bless you with courage when the road is muddy, rough and hard, faith when answers delay and joy that no circumstance can steal.