MARCH22023

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. Jesus holds up the example of parents to help us understand God’s benevolence toward us. I am thinking of my sister who, when her daughter asks “Can I have a cookie?” answers, “No, eat an orange.” When her son asks, “Can I go out and play?” answers, “No, stay inside and do your homework.” When anyone asks to have another hour playing games on the computer she answers, “No, read a book.” She doesn’t give what they ask but gives them “good things” instead. Since that is how God operates we need to apply that lesson even when we ask for things like healing from cancer or the repair of a relationship. To understand when we don’t get what we want it helps to look at the way St. Luke reports this saying of Jesus. Instead of giving “good things,” in Luke’s version Jesus says God gives “the Holy Spirit.” It is in the Holy Spirit that we learn to put aside our plans, our will and trust in the plan and will of God.