Today’s readings deal with wants and needs in our relationship with God.  In the old testament reading we hear Queen Esther pleading to God for help with a situation where the Jews in Persia could be exterminated by Haman the Agagite. Esther’s faith in God and leadership helped her to convince King Xerxes not to kill the Jews. Her prayers are fervent and sincere, as is her leadership.

In the gospel Jesus is teaching his followers to have faith in the goodness and generosity of God.  I have struggled as an adult on how I should ask God to intervene in our world. Sometimes the struggle is when I want things to happen in “my time” vs God’s time. Sometimes the struggle is with “who is going to do the hard work.” It is one thing to pray for divine intervention, another thing to pray for wisdom so that I can do the intervention. The message from God in these readings is clear. “All things are possible.” Pardon the pun but “the devil is in the details!”  

In preparation for this lent I took a three day silent guided retreat.  The only conversations I could have were a one-hour-a-day conversation with a spiritual director and conversations with God.  My spiritual director began each session with the same question. “How are you and God doing today?” With the normal busyness of my life put on hold I had a chance to practice several types of prayer throughout the day. I would rise before dawn to meditate and clear my mind of the clutter so that I could watch the glory of each day’s sunrise. A highlight of the day was the Mass. I resurrected a prayer practice from my childhood praying the rosary. There was also a Labyrinth and Stations of the Cross available. There was also a lovely chapel with the blessed sacrament and some beautiful statues as a focus.  

In the words of Jesus I need to figure out how to seek God and he will be there for me.  We commonly use prayers that sound like we are trying to get God to listen to our requests.  I am learning that God is always listening and waiting to respond to me. The question really is am I ready to communicate and most importantly listen. 

With God all things are possible.  What do I really want?