Acts 18:23-28 / John 16:23-28
We have heard of those stories where a person is given a wish or a couple of wishes, and the person has to decide how to get the best out of those wishes.
If we were told to make a wish and that it will come true, what is it that we will wish for?
And if we can't un-do the wish, then all the more burdensome that wish will be. But all this is of course just wishful thinking. Because in reality, we don't get wishes like this.
Yet in the gospel, Jesus tell us that anything we ask for from the Father, it will be granted in His name.
But before we think about what we are going to ask for, let us also think about who is going to benefit from what we are asking.
So if what we are asking from the Lord is only to benefit ourselves, then do we think we will get it?
But when we ask for something in Jesus' name, then it means that we must know what the Lord wants to give us, and asking for it would only fulfill God's will for us.
As in the 1st reading, the disciple Apollos knew what the Lord wanted of him, and in doing what the Lord wanted of him, God is glorified and the Church grew in faith.
So let us not be afraid to ask from the Lord, but let us also know what the will of God is.
Then we will know what to ask for and our joy will be complete.