All of us
here make prayers of petition. We ask for what we need: exams,
relationships, money worries, work, whatever it is, we all ask God
for help and expect to be answered and rightly so since God has told
us that we should ask him for what we need. Jesus even says it in
this Gospel reading: “…and then the Father will give you anything
you ask him in my name,” but if you go back a few
lines he also says something else. The Lord says, “If you keep my
commandments you will remain in my love… and then the Father will
give you anything you ask him in my name.” God asks us to keep his
commandments first, because that’s how it is in any relationship.
You ask someone you love for something and you know that they will do
their best to give it to you, because of your love for each other,
but the love for each other is there first. You don’t ask favors
from complete strangers, at least not often. You ask people you love.
Love brings
with it obedience and faithfulness. A couple who love each other try
to obey each other and try to be faithful to each other and then
their love grows and as the love grows they know they can rely on
each other for what they need. Our love for God is just the same. The
more we come to know God the more we know that we can rely on him for
what we need, because it’s based on a loving relationship, with a
real person, the person of Jesus. We don’t just believe in a thing,
but a person, but we can’t expect to demand our needs from God if
we are not willing to do as he asks. What kind of a relationship
would that be? It would be just one person using the other.
“If you love me you will keep my commandments.” In other words
this is how we show God that we love him, by trying to be obedient to
him. What are his commandments? Love God, respect his name, keep
Sunday holy, honor you parents, don’t kill, steal, don’t commit
adultery or lie. If we aren’t prepared to keep these commandments
of God, can we still expect him to give us what we ask? Would you
expect your husband or wife, or someone you love, to do things for
you, if you refused to do what they asked you? Of course not.
The important
thing to remember is this: God loves us first and that is where we
get our strength from, to do as he asks us. What we have to do is to
open our hearts. You may find yourself saying “It’s very hard to
keep the commandments. It’s very hard to try and love your
neighbor as yourself. It’s very hard not to shop on Sundays,
and not to use the Lord’s name as a swear word. It’s not
realistic.”
You’re
right, it is practically impossible to live as God asks, if
you rely on your own strength, but we are not expected to. We rely on
God’s strength for these things. It’s called grace and that’s
what makes us different. I could not live as a celibate man by my own
strength? I rely on God’s help every day. We cannot say it’s too
hard, because we have God’s strength to help us. But how do we get
this help, this grace? We get it from prayer. There are 24
hours in a day, no one can say they can’t spare 20 minutes for God.
If you do, it just means you have no interest, no love for God. We
get it from fasting, making sacrifices. Lent isn’t the only time to
fast. One day a week we can eat less, or don’t watch TV, or give up
something you like, until it hurts. We get this strength especially
from the Eucharist. Receive Jesus often if you want to grow in the
spirit. We get it through spending time with Jesus in adoration of
the Blessed Sacrament. We get it through confession, when we are
healed of our sins.
God
constantly offers us this strength, but we have to open our hearts to
him. Then you will find a strength that you didn’t know existed;
strength to love God, strength to keep his commandments, strength to
love other people. We turn to God first to receive from him, then we
can live as he asks.
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.’
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