Esther 4:17 / Matthew 7:7-12
Mother Teresa was quoted with this saying - "Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat."
In a word, all that points to loneliness. One can be in the midst of a crowd and yet feel lonely.
And the dark feeling of loneliness can be overwhelming when one is physically all alone.
And more so when in times of mortal danger as Esther felt in the 1st reading.
She pleaded with the Lord to come to her help, for she was alone and have no helper but the Lord God.
Not many of us have faced that kind of mortal danger as Esther had, and felt totally helpless about it as we see our life draining away with the danger.
But we all have at one time or another, felt the dreadful loneliness of being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, and forgotten by everybody.
In times like these, let us turn to the Lord as Esther did, for our help is in the Lord God alone.
As Jesus promised in gospel, the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.
We are never alone. The Lord our God is always with us. In Him alone is our refuge and our strength.