Esther 4:17 / Matthew 7:7-12
Just a cursory glance at the congregation in the Sunday Eucharist and we can see a varied disposition to prayer.
It can be anything from being distracted and dreamy to being absorbed in the divine mystery.
Even when we try to say what prayer is, we usually say that we ask God for something.
But when we come before God Almighty, we certainly do more than just ask.
More so if we have an urgent desperate need, we will invoke, we will appeal, we will beseech, we will implore, we will beg even.
In the 1st reading, we heard that queen Esther took refuge with the Lord in the mortal peril which had overtaken her. She besought the Lord God of Israel with a desperate urgent prayer.
It was certainly not just asking but more like imploring and even begging.
So when Jesus tells us to ask, we must understand it as imploring and begging from God.
When Jesus tells us to seek, it is to be an all-out search for the signs from God.
When Jesus tells us knock, it is not just to tap tap on the door but to bang it with urgency.
Let us reflect on the prayer of queen Esther and let us know that in urgent desperate times, that can also be our prayer as we earnestly ask, seek and knock.