St Leo Abbey 5/05

The Cross of St Benedict, St Leo U 5/05

May 7, 2005

Ask Jn 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

"I have told you this in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures but I will tell you clearly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father."

"Ask and you will receive." It strikes me this morning that the last several readings said in different ways to ask God, the Father in the name of Jesus for what I need and it will be given to me.

I have to ask for myself. There is no one to ask for me. God loves us and it seems to me is always there waiting for me to me to come to ask to be open in my spirit, ready and willing to walk in the way of the Spirit.

It seems to me that sometimes the hard part in all this is not the asking, but the vision to know what to ask God. There seems to be a continual growth in the religious life away from the more worldly needs except as instruments in the service of God. My prayer for this morning is for the continued graces of a life lived in the house of God if it is God's will.