Ask, Seek, Knock... The Right Way!

A reflection from THE WORD IN OTHER WORDS BIBLE DIARY 2012

MARCH 1

The Word: Mt 7:7-12

Jesus said: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread,  or a snake when he asks for a fish? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.

“Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.”

__________________________________________________________________________

IN OTHER WORDS

I've heard many people complain to God: “You're so unfair, Lord! Doesn't the Bible say, 'Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you?' Well, I've been praying for “this and that” for so many years already, but why haven't you granted my prayers until now?!”

Well, the thing with the Bible is that we shouldn't take everything too literally. Jesus himself sometimes spoke in ways that were confusing to his disciples:

“I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” - Mt 10:34 or

“They will mock him, insult him, spit on him. On the third day he will rise again.

The disciples did not understand any of this.” - Lk 18:32-34 

And so as we read and study Scripture, we have to be very discerning and learn to “read through the lines.” In today's gospel, what is unwritten and what we are left to discover for ourselves, is that God will grant our prayers only when we ASK, SEEK AND KNOCK according to His Most Holy Will! If the “this and that” which we insist on praying for will eventually harm us instead of bless us, you can be sure that God won't answer THIS prayer in THAT way.  

The gospel also says, “Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread or a snake when he asks for a fish?” In the same way, if you became greedy and asked your parents for a truckload of bread, instead of just the loaf you need, chances are, your parents will not give this to you because they know it would not be good for you. In fact the Letter of James has a warning on this:  “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures” (Jam 4:3).

And so when we say the “ask, seek, knock” prayer, we need to first bring to mind a more important lesson that God teaches us which we often sing at Sunday Mass:

“Seek ye first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness,

And all these things shall be added unto you.” – Mt. 6:33.

- Fr. Randy Flores, SVD

  Divine Word Seminary – Tagaytay City




* The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary is an annual project of Logos Publications containing daily scripture readings and reflections written by priests, brothers and sisters of the congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD and SSps).  It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.

Hotdog Love!

Last month, our parish had a planning session at an out of town retreat house.  As I had  already begun my 90-day meatless fast then, I was hoping that at least some of our meals at the venue would have non-meat options.  However, on the first day, it was all chicken, beef or pork from breakfast to dinner! 


But I didn't really complain -- after all, I am on this fast for a purpose.  I just found other ways to make sure I got food in my tummy: for breakfast, I had "butter asukal" (our nickname for bread with butter & sugar); for lunch, I had crab & corn soup with rice; for dinner, I put the sauce of the meat dish on my rice for flavor and ate the side veggies that came with it. :-)


The next morning, God had a very unexpected surprise for me!  At breakfast, I was happy to see that there was daing na bangus (salted and dried milkfish) on the buffet table.  I also saw some hotdogs and I think tocino or longganisa (I don't remember), but of course, I just skipped over those and proceeded to get myself some suka (vinegar).  I was happily eating my fish when the big surprise came -- one of my tablemates said that the hotdogs were actually made out of TUNA.


"Tuna hotdogs???" I thought incredulously.  I'd never heard of them before! (haha, I obviously don't watch much TV!)  I thought that maybe my friends heard the food servers wrong.  So I went back to the buffet table to ask them myself.  And they confirmed that indeed, it was a Tuna hotdog!

Gosh, that moment sure felt a lot like Christmas!!! :-)  I imagined it was God who personally served me those hotdogs on a silver platter (aka food tray)! I was so giddy-happy at this discovery, that I couldn't stop smiling all throughout my meal. I even had some reserved, in case lunch would turn out to be 'meaty' again (which it was).  


I think it's really so cool how God shows His love to us in many different ways -- and I totally love His AWESOME sense of humor! 

Moved...

...not as in "relocated" or "changed posture or position" -- 
but rather, "stirred the emotions."

This is what Our Lady of Fatima did to us when she visited our parish a month ago.

JANUARY 19.

St. James the Great was blessed to host the pilgrim image of Our Lady of Fatima for an overnight vigil.  Upon her arrival, many parishioners welcomed her via a motorcade which went around the various Marian grottos and schools inside Ayala Alabang -- with the final destination being of course, the church.

The school where I work, The Learning Child, was asked to be one of the route markers for this motorcade.  And so days before her arrival, we prepared some big and small white flags to wave in the air when she passed by.  

When she finally came, it was a special moment for everyone.  As we waved our flags and lit some candles, the kids sang: 

"Dear Lady of Fatima, 

we come on bended knees,

To beg your intercession,

For peace and unity..." 

People who were part of the motorcade shared with us afterward, how MOVED they were at the sight of all of our students lined up on both sides of street in front of our school, welcoming Mama Mary with big smiles and white flags all around. 

JANUARY 20.

After a night of vigil and prayers, where parishioners took turns with hourly slots, it was time for Our Lady to move on to her next visit.  And so we celebrated a "Farewell Mass" at 7:30 am.  The church was jam-packed with devotees of our Blessed Mother, and that was in spite of an also filled-up church in the usual 6:20 am daily morning mass! 

From the very start of the mass, I found myself MOVED to tears!  I couldn't explain why, but the tears just kept coming, quietly flowing down my cheeks.  Then I noticed how people around me were also crying!  Women AND men alike... people both young and old -- were all simply MOVED by her loving, motherly presence.  

Throughout the whole mass, I would see from the corner of my eye, someone drawing some tissue paper out of their bags; someone wiping their eyes with the back of their hand; someone dabbing their cheeks with Kleenex.  I have never seen so many people MOVED to tears at a Eucharistic celebration!

It was overwhelming!  A beautiful, good, wonderful kind of overwhelming.  

Likewise, tears were in everyone's eyes as they carried her out of the church through the center aisle.  As she passed where I was standing, I gazed up at her and felt such joy and warmth in my heart! 

* * * * *

After the mass, I recalled what was written on the sign that was placed at the foot of her image, which stood at the front of the church, near the altar.  It read:

"Please do not touch her,

She will touch you."

AMEN TO THAT!!! :-)

Seek Ye First...

For weeks, I struggled to figure out a glitch that suddenly came upon my laptop.  Any external device I plugged into it (USB flash disk or SD card) would mysteriously become write-protected [however, the same devices would work in other laptops or computers].  I spent many long nights searching for a solution to this problem -- I checked out various forums and tried out things other people did when they too, encountered this glitch.  But I kept hitting dead ends.  They remained "write-protected." (note: my devices don't have write-protect switches on them that you could just slide back and forth, in case you're wondering).

This morning, I gave it another go; but after spending more precious minutes surfing, poking around, and ending up with the same results, I decided to finally forget it.  I was wasting too much time trying to find a solution to this problem -- I was fast approaching the fine, fine line between persistence and obsession!  And so I LET GO.  I told myself that if I can never again copy files off my laptop into an external hard drive, so be it!  I'd just have to burn everything onto DVDs! (but oh my, just the thought of this was already too taxing!)

So I proceeded to do something more productive with my time -- I began to put together a Powerpoint presentation for a group report in a Bible Study class that I attend.  I spent the next few hours looking for pictures, selecting verses, and carefully creating the presentation to the best of my abilities.  I managed to get most of it done before it was time for me to head to work.  

Before shutting down, I felt a bit of a nudge to go back to Google for the nth time and try ONE LAST TIME to search for a solution to my external device issue.  This time, I tried typing yet another set of words in the search box [I would always use different combinations of words when searching -- "how to remove write-protect," "write-protect on USB device," "how does a USB flash disk become write-protected?" etc].  Scrolling down through one of the forums I hadn't visited yet, I noticed one post that had a step-by-step instruction that looked very similar to the ones I had previously encountered... but it contained an additional step that I never saw before!!!  

With a hopeful prayer in my heart, I went ahead and tried this process -- the last step of which, was of course, to reboot my computer.  I think I literally held my breath as I waited for my computer to restart and come back on... as I plugged my [seemingly write-protected] flash disk into a port... and as I dragged a random file from my desktop to the F: drive.  VOILA!!!  It copied!!! [exhaaaaleeee]  I tried the same with another device and it also worked!

Instinctively, I bowed my head, closed my eyes and whispered, THANK YOU, GOD!  

* * *

Gosh, that sure felt like a prize from God for being diligent in the task that was set before me (the Bible Study group report thing).  For choosing to do that rather than waste time over my 'borderline-obsession.'  

Immediately, the following verse came to mind, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." - Matthew 6:33 (NASB)

Hear, hear! 

One Step at a Time

Sharing another entry from "Good Morning.... GOD" for reflection today.
October 12
"What could be overwhelming this moment?  Are you not overwhelmed when you are looking ahead, counting all the moments together instead of one at a time?  And how must these moments be lived, My child?  All at once of just one at a time?  Again you have fallen into Satan's trap.  He loves for you to see mountains, to think things insurmountable, to view all that you must do as one great unconquerable force.  But that is not the reality in My kingdom.  My reality is one task performed in My power, one moment, one step at a time.  Then on to the next and the next.  Put your priorities in order and go through them with the strength of Christ."

* * * * *

     Another timely message from our Heavenly Father for me!  Yesterday, I just concluded another semester of studies at the Divine Word School of Theology and with the sem-break up ahead, I've put together this rather massive "to do" list which I hope to achieve (or attempt at least) over this break.  Knowing that I now have extra time on my hands without a weekly Greek quiz to study for, or readings from the letters of St. Paul to read, I've naturally shifted my focus onto other things.  The ideas have been flowing and it's true, some of it can be overwhelming!  Especially since I tend to multi-task a lot and want to do everything all at once! This over-eagerness and sometimes "flightiness" usually becomes the very 'mountain' that gets in the way of things.
     So I'm glad to have read today's entry from this devotional!  It reminds me to: 
1) Take it one day / task at a time; 2) Put my priorities in order; and 3) Always make sure to hold on to Jesus' hand every step of the way and rely on HIS strength!


     No, I won't stop dreaming big dreams.
     No, I won't put away that "to-do" list.
     But I've got to make sure I keep myself grounded and do things in an orderly way... one step at a time!

"For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." - 1 Corinthians 14:33

Thank God, I Changed My Mind!

Gospel for September 25, 2011 (Sunday)


Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people:
"What is your opinion?
A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said,
'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.'
He said in reply, 'I will not, '
but afterwards changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go.
Which of the two did his father's will?"
They answered, "The first."
Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him."


- Matthew 21:28-32

* * * 

The other day (Wednesday, September 21st - UN International Day of Peace), the principal of the school (in Alabang) where I work, and I were supposed to go to Miriam College (in Quezon City), upon the invitation of the Associate Director of their Center for Peace Education, to view a film that they were showing to their students in celebration of the International Day of Peace.  However, the night before, my boss informed me that she had some urgent meetings to attend to and said that it was up to me if I still wanted to proceed to Miriam.


My first instinct was not to go anymore, since it was pretty far away (opposite end of 'my world'!), plus I also still had a lot of work to do at school.  However, I felt a strong prompting to make the effort and go!  So I changed my mind and went. 


Sure enough, the documentary was nothing short of inspiring!  I was soooo glad I decided to go!  It was the much-needed "boost" -- for me to start working on something that has been waiting in the wings for quite sometime now. (You Tube has a 3-minute summary of the 80-or-so-minute film which we viewed.  I invite you to watch it after reading this blog. Just click here.)


Anyway, that same evening, I was invited to a dinner for a priest-friend from Nigeria who was in town for a vacation (he used to be a guest priest in our parish a few years ago).  Since I already hosted a dinner in my home for this same priest about a week prior, I once again, thought of not going.  This time, it was my best friend who encouraged me to come along.  So for the second time that day, I changed my mind and went.


And for the second time, I was really "blessed because I came" (some of you would know that this is a borrowed line from a song!).  It turned out that it wasn't just any regular fellowship-type of dinner, but we also had a "caring circle" afterward. [A caring circle or CC is an activity where we read a Bible passage -- usually the coming Sunday's mass readings -- and then share with one another a line, phrase or sentence that "strikes" us the most and why.  Usually we relate it to personal experiences or what it means to us].  It had been sometime since I last attended one and it felt really good being able to share His Word with the people who were there that night.


In fact, this blog post is exactly what I shared with my friends in the CC that night.  I shared with them the two "changing of minds" I made that day -- and I further reflected on why I almost didn't go to both.  I realized it was mostly because of convenience and plain laziness. And this made me remember what I wrote in my previous entry about the Comfort Zone vs. the Courage Zone.  


Staying put in Alabang was the Comfort Zone choice while going to Miriam was the Courage Zone choice.  Staying home and doing other things would have been sticking to my Comfort Zone, but choosing to spend that evening with our priest-friend was stepping out into my Courage Zone.  But like I mentioned in that last post, great things do happen every time you decide to go into your Courage Zone... and this experience certainly proved it!  


May you too, be blessed as you continue to "change your mind" everyday and endeavor to seek His Will in everything that you do!

We Don't Have To Go Very Far

[Oh goodness, I'm averaging one post a month now... yikes! Must blog on!]

A few Sundays ago, I caught Bo Sanchez in a telecast of the Kerygma Feast (see www.kerygmafamily.com for more details on the Feast) in which he was preaching about how we all live in either of two "zones" -- the Comfort Zone or the Courage Zone. He explained that it is only in the Courage Zone that we can achieve all our successes in life... that in order to reach our dreams and goals, we need to take a step outside our Comfort Zone (i.e. take some risks!) and move into our Courage Zone.  However, he warned that we should also never step too far out, thereby leaving our Core Zone -- which is defined by our core gifts, talents, skills, knowledge and inherent characteristics.  


Here is the full article which he wrote (and based his preaching on): "Everything You Want Is Found In Your Courage Zone" (I recommend you take the time to read this later -- it's quite lengthy, but it's really inspiring and makes a whole loooot of sense!).

* * * * *

Hearing Bo's talk got me thinking and reflecting on which zone I am currently in, specifically with regard to my ministry life.  


In light of mission or ministry work, one's first instinct is to think that "stepping out into your Courage Zone" necessarily entails going off to a far away, distant (or even dangerous) place -- such as a very poor area of some remote province; or to the mountains (where the indigenous tribes live); or even to other countries experiencing extreme poverty or war.  Or it means leaving all your material comforts to go live with the poorest of the poor. 


Of course, there are some people who are called to actually do this kind of missionary work.  And I will always admire those who take on this challenge and persevere in their missions.  However, we are all called in different ways -- and geography or distance should never be a measure by which to judge anyone's (especially your own) "Courage Zone."    

* * * * *

At first glance, one might say that I've somewhat settled into a Comfort Zone -- considering that I live, work, and serve (in ministry) all within twenty minutes of each other!  The furthest I regularly travel to once or twice a week is to Tagaytay, where I study and also do a bit of volunteer work.  Admittedly, it's all very convenient, logistically.  There are days when I do ask myself if I've indeed stopped "pushing" myself to get out into this so-called Courage Zone, which I know God constantly calls all of us to do.  However, as I reflect on where God has led me over the past two years and a half, I can definitely say that He has pulled me quite far out of my Comfort Zone!  


It was certainly never in my life plan to work at a school or for that matter, go back to school myself (to study)... but this is where I found myself after deciding to leave my job at the top of 2009.


And after two academic schoolyears, I am still struggling to get a good "foot hold" at my school job (five-minute walk away from home!) -- trying to figure out how to do my work best, how to reach out to the kids in the flock that God has put under my care.  Everyday is a day in the Courage Zone -- a challenge to be more creative, more engaged, more attuned, more involved with these children.


Likewise, in my ministry work with the hearing-impaired (this is the one that's twenty minutes away!), God continuously calls me to new things, to come up with fresh, exciting activities for the kids.  
  

with the students of the Joseph Gualandi School for Hearing-Impaired

As for studying again -- while it has been quite a challenge (you know, having to use my brain like this once more, haha!) -- my once a week classes have definitely been a great source of energy and joy (aside from knowledge and hopefully, wisdom!).  Studying God's Word equips me in more ways than one, to face the challenges that the Courage Zone brings day after day.

* * * * *

Anyway, the point of this post is really just this -- we don't need to go very far to discover or explore our Courage Zones.  We don't need to make drastic moves or go far away to say that we have "stepped out of our Comfort Zones."  


Sometimes, it is literally just around the corner.  Going out of your way to help a neighbor in need is already "stepping out."  Giving up your precious time to serve in your parish is already "stepping out."  Spending your weekends in outreach activities is already "stepping out."  In fact, serving your own family in the very confines of your home is already "stepping out."


There are countless of ways of stepping out --- and they will differ for each one of us. Some will be called to do more, others less.  

"From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required;

and from the one to whom much has been entrusted,

even more will be demanded." 

- Luke 12:48 (NRSV) 

The important thing is, that we do TAKE A STEP -- big or small, it doesn't matter!
The important thing is, that we GIVE BACK -- because we all have been BLESSED, one way or another.  
The important thing is, that we don't let our lives go by WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING -- that is, in service of Him and of others. 


So, whatever your Comfort Zone is, get out of it!  
And wherever your Courage Zone is, get to it!  
Remember -- "STEPPING OUT" also means "STEPPING UP"!


p.s. - don't forget to read Bo's article, if you haven't yet!