Saint Matthew - Chapter 7
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| Christ discourses with His disciples. J-J Tissot |
Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
Ask and it shall be given, &c. He returns to the subject of prayer, of which He had begun to treat, 6:5. Ask, viz., from God, by prayer, those things about which I have been teaching, such as are necessary for you, but arduous and difficult, and especially the things which I have laid down to be looked for in the Lord’s Prayer. For to it Luke refers these words (11:9). Observe, these three words, ask, seek, knock, mean the same thing, that is, earnest prayer. To ask signifies confidence in prayer as a prime requisite; to seek signifies zeal and diligence, for he who seeks for anything, applies the whole vigour of his mind to obtain what he seeks. To knock means perseverance.
Christ then signifies that we must pray faithfully, diligently, ardently, and perseveringly. So S. Augustine, who says that ask refers to praying for strength, by which we may be able to fulfil the commandments of God: seek, that we may find the truth: knock, that heaven may be opened unto us.
To this we may add the words of S. Chrysostom. “Ask,” he says, “in supplications, praying night and day: seek by zeal and labours, for heaven is not given to the slothful: knock in prayers, in fastings, and almsgiving, for he who knocks at a door knocks with his hand.”
Again, these three words denote increasing earnestness in prayer. When anything is asked for, it is first spoken for; by-and-by, if no answer be given, we cry out; if calling out do not suffice, we seek for some other means of gaining attention, we apply our mouth to some chink in the door by which our voices may be made to reach the master of the house: if that too fail, we beat at the door, until we gain a hearing. Hence Remigius thus expounds, “We ask by praying; we seek by living well; we knock by persevering.” Others, “Ask by faith, seek by hope, knock by charity.” Lastly, Climacus (Gradu 28) says, Ask by striving, seek by obedience, knock by long-suffering.
Mystically, S. Bernard (in Scala Claustralium): “Seek by reading, and ye shall find in meditation: knock in prayer, and it shall be opened to you in contemplation. Reading offers solid food to the mouth, meditation masticates it, reason gives it flavour, contemplation is the very sweetness itself which pleases and refreshes.” He then defines these four processes. “Meditation is a studious action of the mind, which under the guidance of right reason searches out the knowledge of hidden truth: contemplation is the elevation of a mind depending upon God, and tasting the joys of eternal sweetness. Reading searches, meditation finds, contemplation feeds, prayer asks.”
[8] Omnis enim qui petit, accipit : et qui quaerit, invenit : et pulsanti aperietur.
For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
For every one that asketh receiveth, &c. Elegantly and truly says S. Augustine, or whoever was the author of lib. de Salutar. Monitis, (c. 28), “The prayer of the righteous is the key of heaven. Prayer ascends, God’s mercy descends.” The same S. Augustine (lib. senten. apud Prospr. Sent. 87), says, “The physician knows best what is good for the sick man. Therefore God sometimes in mercy hears not.” Again he says (ad Paulinum, Epist. 43), “The Lord often denies what we wish for, that he may give us what we would rather, in the end.” And the Gloss says, “God does not deny Himself to those who ask, for He voluntarily offered Himself to those who asked not for him. And those who seek shall find Him: for He gave Himself to those who sought Him not, that He might be found of them: and He will open to those who knock, for He it is who crieth out, ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock.’ ”
[9] Aut quis est ex vobis homo, quem si petierit filius suus panem, numquid lapidem porriget ei?
Or what man is there among you, of whom if his son shall ask bread, will he reach him a stone?
Or what man is there of you, &c. The force of the or in this verse is, that God is more liberal than man. It, as it were, compares God and man, and shows the superiority of God to man.
[10] aut si piscem petierit, numquid serpentem porriget ei?
Or if he shall ask him a fish, will he reach him a serpent?
Or if he ask a fish, &c. For a serpent has the appearance and form of a fish, so that it might be deceitfully substituted for a fish, though only by an enemy, not by a father. He says the same thing that He said in the previous verse, but by a still more striking similitude. For if a father gave a stone to a child who asked him for bread, he would only give him a useless and uneatable thing; but if he gave him a serpent when he asked for a fish, he would give him not only a useless but a noxious and poisonous thing. Thus Christ speaks of what is a moral impossibility.
[11] Si ergo vos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris : quanto magis Pater vester, qui in caelis est, dabit bona petentibus se?
If you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
If ye then being evil, &c. Being evil: i.e. “by the natural propensity to evil, which ye have contracted in your nature by sin.” So S. Jerome. “Also by your own will and actions.” Whence it is plain that these words were spoken to the people generally, not to the Apostles. For the Apostles were good, but among the multitude there were many who were evil and entangled in vices. S. Chrysostom was of another opinion: “In comparison with God,” he says, “all appear evil, even the good, as in comparison with the sun all things, even such as are light, appear dark.”
Give good things. Luke has, will give the good Spirit. For all good things are given by the grace of the Holy Spirit, says Remigius. By good things understand true and solid goods which lead to blessedness. Whence S. Augustine says, “Gold and silver are good, not because they make thee good, but because thou mayest do good with them.”
Saint Luke - Chapter 11
And I say to you, Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
[10] Omnis enim qui petit, accipit : et qui quaerit, invenit : et pulsanti aperietur.
For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
[11] Quis autem ex vobis patrem petit panem, numquid lapidem dabit illi? aut piscem, numquid pro pisce serpentem dabit illi?
And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
[12] aut si petierit ovum, numquid porriget illi scorpionem?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?
[13] Si ergo vos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis vestris : quanto magis Pater vester de caelo dabit spiritum bonum petentibus se?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam
Ad Jesum per Mariam
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