Acts 18:23-28,
Psalm 47:2-3.8-9.1,
John 16:23b-28 Full Readings
Whatever you ask in my name you shall get
The farewell speech of Jesus is drawing to an end. Today he tells his Apostles that: "...anything you ask for from my Father he will grant in my name...so that your joy will be complete" Of course when Jesus was with them, they would lack nothing. They had everything they needed but since Jesus was going to the Father they had to start asking in the form of prayer. Their relationship was to be no longer physical but spiritual and the only way to communicate spiritually to God is through prayer.
The words of Jesus also speak to us today. Whatever we shall ask from God in Jesus' name we shall receive. It is obvious that there are many questions about this statement. At first glance, Jesus appears to be saying that God the Father will grant anything we ask of him. What a great deal for us! In our human brokenness, we might then be tempted to think of the name of Jesus as a magical charm. However, we know from experience that our prayers sometimes go unanswered. What we are asking for seems good—the conversion of a friend, an adult child’s return to the faith, healing for a gravely ill person, peace in our community—and if nothing happens, we are tempted to believe that our prayers make no difference. On the other hand, we know that Jesus always speaks the truth, and that he loves us abundantly, so we must come to the conclusion that there is a much deeper meaning to his promise, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”
If Jesus promised that whatever we ask in his name we shall receive, how comes there are many unanswered prayers? Firstly, we have to understand that God's ways are not our ways. God never gives what we don't need. We might have asked what really will not enhance our relationship with God and neighbor and so from His goodness, He will give what we need, even sometimes different from what we have asked, something even better, something that benefits us and everyone around us. This means we are obedient to the will of God.
Prayers of asking and of intercession may not always be answered – or at least not obviously. Here we must turn to the Letter to the Hebrews 6.7, when Jesus’ prayer with tears to the one who had power to save him from death won a hearing by his reverence, and he learnt obedience through his sufferings. This allusion to the agony of Jesus before his sufferings must be the model of all intercessory prayer: we submit ourselves in prayer to the one who has power to save us, and await the answer in obedience, confident that the Father will answer our prayer in the way that the eternal love knows to be best for us, beyond our restricted and faulty human vision. God goes beyond our mere desires and aspirations and gives us what will bring us closer to Him in obedience.
Secondly, there is always a prerequisite for getting what we ask from God. We need to have an unwavering faith in God in order to get what we ask for. Our trust must be in Him and He will surely give us what we need. With the wavering faith, we will not get what we need (James 1:6-7). Thirdly, we can speak of what is the motive of our asking. Is what we are asking from God for the greater Glory of His name? Is it necessary for our own personality and others or just for pleasure or pride. St James teaches us: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3). If we don't get what we ask let us first examine our motives behind what we are asking for.
Despite all these possibilities, God has answered many of our prayers and we really have to thank Him. Let us not take anything for granted; even reaching this moment of our life is by God's grace, we have to thank God. By the fact we were born and we still breath, let means that we have to thank God. Remember being born is not our right but out of mercy of God, however, dying is a must. Let us therefore brethren not take anything for granted, God is always answering our prayers either in the way we ask or in a way according to His will.
The words of Jesus also speak to us today. Whatever we shall ask from God in Jesus' name we shall receive. It is obvious that there are many questions about this statement. At first glance, Jesus appears to be saying that God the Father will grant anything we ask of him. What a great deal for us! In our human brokenness, we might then be tempted to think of the name of Jesus as a magical charm. However, we know from experience that our prayers sometimes go unanswered. What we are asking for seems good—the conversion of a friend, an adult child’s return to the faith, healing for a gravely ill person, peace in our community—and if nothing happens, we are tempted to believe that our prayers make no difference. On the other hand, we know that Jesus always speaks the truth, and that he loves us abundantly, so we must come to the conclusion that there is a much deeper meaning to his promise, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.”
If Jesus promised that whatever we ask in his name we shall receive, how comes there are many unanswered prayers? Firstly, we have to understand that God's ways are not our ways. God never gives what we don't need. We might have asked what really will not enhance our relationship with God and neighbor and so from His goodness, He will give what we need, even sometimes different from what we have asked, something even better, something that benefits us and everyone around us. This means we are obedient to the will of God.
Prayers of asking and of intercession may not always be answered – or at least not obviously. Here we must turn to the Letter to the Hebrews 6.7, when Jesus’ prayer with tears to the one who had power to save him from death won a hearing by his reverence, and he learnt obedience through his sufferings. This allusion to the agony of Jesus before his sufferings must be the model of all intercessory prayer: we submit ourselves in prayer to the one who has power to save us, and await the answer in obedience, confident that the Father will answer our prayer in the way that the eternal love knows to be best for us, beyond our restricted and faulty human vision. God goes beyond our mere desires and aspirations and gives us what will bring us closer to Him in obedience.
Secondly, there is always a prerequisite for getting what we ask from God. We need to have an unwavering faith in God in order to get what we ask for. Our trust must be in Him and He will surely give us what we need. With the wavering faith, we will not get what we need (James 1:6-7). Thirdly, we can speak of what is the motive of our asking. Is what we are asking from God for the greater Glory of His name? Is it necessary for our own personality and others or just for pleasure or pride. St James teaches us: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures" (James 4:3). If we don't get what we ask let us first examine our motives behind what we are asking for.
Despite all these possibilities, God has answered many of our prayers and we really have to thank Him. Let us not take anything for granted; even reaching this moment of our life is by God's grace, we have to thank God. By the fact we were born and we still breath, let means that we have to thank God. Remember being born is not our right but out of mercy of God, however, dying is a must. Let us therefore brethren not take anything for granted, God is always answering our prayers either in the way we ask or in a way according to His will.
In everything we do, let us always pray to God in love, humility and faith, praying in Jesus’ name and without complaining. When we pray to the Father from a place of faith and humility, we more clearly see our spiritual reality. We can accept that our requests may actually not be for our good or the good of those for whom we pray, that our timing is not God’s timing, that what’s unbearable to us may in fact be part of God’s plan, and that God can use our brokenness and sorrow and pain to bring about his good even when we cannot see it. When Job was utterly broken, his possessions stolen or destroyed, and his children dead, he blessed the name of the Lord. This humble and upright man of the Old Testament never knew the Messiah, yet he was a shining example of what it means to pray in his name, acknowledging that all we have comes from God, and that our faith in his sovereign goodness cannot be swayed by circumstance.
Like Job, we cry out in suffering: “We bring nothing at birth; we take nothing with us at death. The Lord alone gives and takes. Praise the name of the Lord!” In spite of everything, Job did not sin or accuse God of doing wrong (Job 1:21-22). We must beg God to allow us to “rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). This attitude is beyond our human ability. To pray in his name is to beg for the grace to praise God and trust God with childlike dependence. We will then be able to pray as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Ultimately, this is how we pray in his name.
Reflect today on how your prayers are being answered by God. Pray for the Holy Spirit to always make you understand the ways in which God answers your prayers and to always submit to His holy will. Let us always ask for Mother Mary and other saints to pray for us to our God so that we may always ask and receive from god through Jesus’ name.
Let us pray
My God, I know you are always answering my prayers. May this hope keep me until I reach there in Heaven to be with you and to ask no more. Amen
Blessed Easter Season. Don't forget to pray Novena to the Holy Spirit.
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