In this week's edition of There's more in the Gospel than meets the eye,
Jill Bevilacqua and Seàn-Patrick Lovett bring us readings and reflections for the
Seventeenth Sunday of the Year.
Listen:
GospelLk
11:1-13
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one
of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”
He said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your
kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for
we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final
test.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he
goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend
of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and
he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and
my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I
tell you, if he does not get up to give the visitor the loaves because of their
friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
“And
I tell you, ask and you will receive; 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. What father
among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a
scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”