Once again in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus speaks to his disciple about prayer and attitude of hope that is behind all Christian prayer. In this Lent of the Holy Year Pope Francis has called us all to journey together in hope.
Christian prayer is rooted in hope. It is rooted in the relationship that each Christian has with God the Father. That is what gives us the hope and surety that our Father will respond to our prayer.
The times we live in are full of despair and depression. Cynicism and hopelessness have become a way of life that makes us all cold and distant in our relationships with others, with God, with nature, and even with our own selves. We just give up, sit down, and do nothing. Clinical depression is becoming an epidemic, even among our young people.
Despite our own tendency to complacency, inaction, and despondency, we must dedicate time to Ask/Seek/Knock. Christian prayer is active and pushes us to be even more active. We must get up, abandon ourselves, and devote time to prayer. That Christian prayer full of hope and based on a filial relationship with God the Father will push us to change ourselves and to change our way of relating to others and our world.
Lent is a time for change. Dedicate some additional time to prayer this week and get up and do something new for the good of others.
How much more will your heavenly Father give good things
to those who ask him?