Patience in asking
Christ said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
He thus commanded us to ask, and pledged Himself to the giving. But this implies asking earnestly and sincerely, putting all other things out of our minds.
He also urges patience, warning that the door may not open immediately, but that we should persist in our knocking.
If you continue asking, though the answer is not there at once, you surely will receive. This was why the door was shut - that you would take the initiative to knock.
The answer will come. Would you, as a father, respond with a stone when your son asks for bread? Consider that if you persist in asking, yet receive not, maybe you are asking for a stone.
The fact you are the son does not assure that you will be asking for something worthy. So ask for nothing worldly. Being a son can, in fact, work to your disadvantage, since you may then be more likely to ask for that which does not have merit.
There are two essentials to effective prayer: 1) that you pray earnestly, and 2) that you ask that which you ought to ask.
If you claim to have asked for spiritual benefits, but did not receive, it is because you did not "knock at the door" with sufficient earnestness, or you have in other ways made yourself unworthy to receive what you ask, or did cease your prayers prematurely.
In no case is God responsible for prayers being unanswered. If we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, our heavenly Father knows even better how to provide for our needs.
One should not have such confidence in prayer alone that he neglects performing good works; nor should one trust only in his own efforts. We should instead seek help from above, while also contributing our own efforts.
"In all things," He said, "whatsoever you would have men do to you, you also should do to them."
Virtue is consistent with each of our natures. Each of us knows his duties, so it is not possible for us to find any excuse in being ignorant of what we should do.
Saint John Chrysostom
He thus commanded us to ask, and pledged Himself to the giving. But this implies asking earnestly and sincerely, putting all other things out of our minds.
He also urges patience, warning that the door may not open immediately, but that we should persist in our knocking.
If you continue asking, though the answer is not there at once, you surely will receive. This was why the door was shut - that you would take the initiative to knock.
The answer will come. Would you, as a father, respond with a stone when your son asks for bread? Consider that if you persist in asking, yet receive not, maybe you are asking for a stone.
The fact you are the son does not assure that you will be asking for something worthy. So ask for nothing worldly. Being a son can, in fact, work to your disadvantage, since you may then be more likely to ask for that which does not have merit.
There are two essentials to effective prayer: 1) that you pray earnestly, and 2) that you ask that which you ought to ask.
If you claim to have asked for spiritual benefits, but did not receive, it is because you did not "knock at the door" with sufficient earnestness, or you have in other ways made yourself unworthy to receive what you ask, or did cease your prayers prematurely.
In no case is God responsible for prayers being unanswered. If we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, our heavenly Father knows even better how to provide for our needs.
One should not have such confidence in prayer alone that he neglects performing good works; nor should one trust only in his own efforts. We should instead seek help from above, while also contributing our own efforts.
"In all things," He said, "whatsoever you would have men do to you, you also should do to them."
Virtue is consistent with each of our natures. Each of us knows his duties, so it is not possible for us to find any excuse in being ignorant of what we should do.
Saint John Chrysostom
Posted by Dominique Péladeau for the Rev. Radu Roscanu | 8:43 AM
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