The ninth word in my Lent lexicon is:
ASK.
For such a small word it carries a huge weight. We live in a society that values independence. We are expected to succeed and that often translates into being able to meet all our own needs, physical, emotional & spiritual. Even as we know that can’t be true or even possible the expectation shapes us. We carry the weight of it with us every day. The result can be that asking at all can feel like a failure.
Today’s readings offer us a different reality. In the first reading Queen Esther, faced with a difficult and challenging situation finds the courage ask God for what she needs to be able to save her people.
In the gospel Jesus puts it very simply and directly:
“‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; those who knock will always have the door opened to them.”
He doesn’t expect us to meet all our needs by ourselves, he knows we’re not made to do that. Instead he encourages us to ask for what we need. His words offer us hope. In our culture, with it’s high value on independence, they are also a challenge.
He promises us that if we risk vulnerability in admitting our need we will be met with a loving and compassionate response. Lent is an invitation to trust that promise and to find the courage and humility to ask for what we need.
What do you need to ask God for this Lent?