Today we have that powerful image of the man banging late at night on his neighbor’s door, in search of food for his family —a reminder of the persistence you and I should always have in asking God for all we need. The banging on the door is quite a vivid image of God’s passionate desire to hear our prayers, along with God’s readiness to lavish upon us those deeper human gifts we really need…rather than all the “things” we think we just gotta have.
Through this year’s July gospel lessons, Jesus teaches us quite forcefully that you and I are not the center of the universe. So we are not to hoard God’s many gifts. Rather, with the hospitality of open arms and generous hearts, we are invited to give generously all that we have been so lavishly blessed with … even those gifts that we find hard to receive, even that smallness of spirit we find difficult to confront, even those dark corners of our hearts we find hard to open to the sunshine of God’s transforming grace.
—The Jesuit Prayer Team