Can you ask for what you need?

11th Week OT (Th) 
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP 
St. Dominic, NOLA 

Our Father knows what we need before we ask. He knows that we need to acknowledge Him as our Father. He knows that we need to understand the holiness of His name. He knows that we need to hope in the coming of His kingdom; that His will be done in heaven and on earth; that He is the one and only source of all that we are and have. He knows all this before we ask. But do we know what we need? And do we know to ask? When Jesus teaches us to pray—not to babble as the pagans do—he shows us that his Father wants us to be happy. And to be happy, truly turned toward Him and determined to achieve unity with Him, we must be free. So, even though He knows what we need before we ask, and even though He wants us to be happy, He will not ruin our freedom by imposing His will. Rather, He gives us every tool, every chance, all the gifts and graces we need to see Him reaching out to us, to hear Him calling out to us. When we pray as Jesus teaches us to pray, we confess our cardinal needs: to be children of the Most High, to depend fully and solely on Him, and to hope always in His promises. 

Our Father wants us to be happy and free. To be both happy and free, we must be children of the kingdom and grown-ups in the world. As taxing and frustrating as it is, being a grown-up in the world is only possible for us b/c we are children of God's kingdom. Our source of strength, endurance, and courage is found among our brothers and sisters in the holy family; our supply of mercy, love, and hope is stored in the Body of Christ; our best cheerleaders and most accomplished coaches work tirelessly for the King on our behalf. Could we be happy and free grown-ups in the world if we had no access to the kingdom? If we couldn't retreat to the springs of grace found in the Church? Think of how little we would know of God w/o our teachers. How little we would understand the mysteries w/o our saints. How dark the Way would be w/o Christ's light shining back through his people. If we were left in the world all alone to scratch around for happiness or beg for freedom, we might find some measure of both—imitations, temporary imitations. But our Father knows that we need more than transient copies of happiness and freedom. We need the Real Thing, the genuine article. So, our Lord teaches us to ask for what need even though he knows what we need before we ask. 

Can you ask for what you need? Put it this way: when you pray the Our Father do you mean it? Do you really mean “Father, I need your will to be done in the world as it is done in heaven”? Do you really mean “I need just enough bread for today and no more”? Do you really mean “I need for You to forgive my sins in exactly the same way that I forgive those who have sinned against me”? Asking for what we need is often a matter of overcoming pride: I don't need any help from God; I can do this w/o Him. That's heresy. Less often, asking for what we need is a matter of being afraid that we will get exactly what we need. So, instead of praying as Jesus teaches us to pray, we babble like the pagans, hoping that God will hear our wants and ignore what He knows we need. This is why the Our Father is the most courageous prayer that we can offer. It basically says, “Father, You know what I need, give it to me!” Your will be done. A child of the kingdom has no fear of the Father's will. A grown-up trying to live as a child in the kingdom will live in constant fear of losing control of a wild, unpredictable god. However, a child of the kingdom, living as a grown-up in the world can always come home with nothing to fear, nothing to lose, no worries at all. Our Father knows what we need before we ask. True happiness and freedom are always found in the Father's house. 

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