“Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.”

'I have never worried about our temporal affairs, and I have seen by experience that God has always provided for us. When we were two, Providence provided enough for two; for four when we were four; and when our number increased the needs of all were supplied, thus verifying the divine promise: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. vi. 33.) "Be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on." (Matt. vi. 25.)'  - St. Paul of the Cross: (1694 – 1775: was an Italian mystic and founder of the Passionists)

Gospel Text: (MT 7:7-12)

Jesus said to his disciples:

“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 asked for a loaf of bread,

or a snake when he asked 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.”

Our Gospel reading today shows us the way to the heart of our Father in heaven.  It is the way of being little, of being a child before him.

As a young child I once came home with my pants torn from playing. Upon seeing my torn pants, my father asked, "Now that your pants are torn, will you not ask for a new pair?"  Belligerent and proud, I replied, "No, thank you."

The incident mirrors our pride and emphasizes the lesson on dependence on our father in heaven.  We have to learn that we have a heavenly Father anxious to grace us with his abundant blessings, only if we could ask.  How do we learn the lesson that we will never be wanting if we have the heart of a child? A child's simplicity is endearing to its father and the father is most ready to bring the child to his embrace and to shower it with his love and generosity.

A child's natural urge because it is helpless is to turn to its parents for love and help.  The child asks. And receives.  The parent could not help but listen to the child's plea for help.