"JESUS said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to his house in the middle of the night and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine who is traveling has just arrived, and I have nothing to offer him.' Maybe your friend will answer from inside, 'Don't bother me now; the door is locked, and my children and I are in bed, so I can't get up and give you anything.' But I tell you, even though he will not get up and attend to you because you are a friend, yet he will get up because you are a bother to him, and he will give you all you need.
And so I say to you, 'Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For the one who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened.
If your child asks for a fish, will you give him a snake instead? And if your child asks for an egg, will you give him a scorpion? If you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will YOUR heavenly FATHER give the Holy Spirit to those who ask HIM.'" - Luke 11:5-13
(JESUS urges us to ask with perseverance without ever getting tired of asking but, rather, "tiring" GOD. GOD will not always give us what we ask for, nor in the way we ask, since we do not know what is good for us. HE will give us a Holy Spirit, or a clearer vision of HIS will and, at the same time, the courage to follow it.
Knock and it will be opened to you. A page from Father Molinie is a commentary on this verse. "If GOD does not open at once, it is not because HE enjoys making us wait. If we must persevere in prayer, it is not because we need a set number of invocations, but rather because a certain quality, a certain way of prayer is required. If we were able to have that at the beginning, our prayer would be heard immediately.
"Prayer is the groaning of the Holy Spirit in us as Saint Paul says. Yet, we need repetition for this groaning to open a path in our stony heart, just as the drop of water wastes away the hardest rocks. When we have repeated the Our Father and the Hail Mary with perseverance, one day we can pray them in a way that is in perfect harmony with GOD's will. HE HIMSELF was waiting for this groaning, the only one which can move HIM since, in fact, it comes from HIS own heart.
"As long as we have not played this note, or rather, drawn it from within, GOD cannot be conquered. It is not that GOD defends HIMSELF since HE is pure tenderness and fluidity, but as long as there is nothing similar in us, the current cannot pass between HIM and us. Man gets tired of praying, yet if he perseveres instead of losing heart, he will gradually let go of his pride until being exhausted and overcome, he obtains much more than he could have wished for.")
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