We hear a lot today the phrase “It’s simple, just not easy.” Well I’m here to give another example. This one applies to our spiritual life and is referred to as the ASK principle. It is an invitation from God to communicate through prayer. While I have heard this before and am familiar with the concept, hearing the Gospel many times, reading it myself and hearing people discuss it on podcasts, I heard a different perspective on it today at mass. It boils down to asking out of love, not persistence, and faith.
The concept of ASK is from the gospel passage from Mt 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” In non-religious circles people refer to this as the ASK principle. Seems simple right? But asking, seeking and knocking are not easy because they require faith. Faith in God’s promise that He will provide all that we need. Belief that He love us and listens to us and cares for us. And trust in His timing over ours. It may not be what we want to hear but rest assured, God will provide.
The different perspective I heard today was circled around not just asking but accepting. Accepting our circumstances or the “answer” God gives us when we ask. However, we need to be persistent in our prayer and in doing so our faith, not so much for the thing we are asking but for the relationship with God. Persistent in seeking God. It is a matter of asking for grace, seeking to be attentive to the presence of that grace in our daily life, and knocking through the barriers that exist in our lives that prevent that grace. We are promised in this passage that asking for grace, we will indeed receive, seeking God, we will indeed find, and knocking on the “door”, the barrier will be opened so we can pass through.
So go ahead, ASK God. He won’t disappoint you. In reflecting on my own life, I can say that much of what I have asked God for over the past decade has come to pass. It wasn’t when I wanted, that’s for sure. It wasn’t how I wanted it. But it did turn out for my betterment. From me to you, I invite you to have faith in God’s sovereignty over your life. It’s probably the hardest thing one will ever do because it casts our ego aside but that’s what the grace is for. So keeping ASKING.
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