Faith Daily | 22 June 2021

PRAYER of the DAY - PENTECOST APBA p552

Almighty and everlasting God,

you are always more ready to hear that we to pray,

and give more than either we desire or deserve:

pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,

forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid,

and giving us those good things

which we are not worthy to ask,

save through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ,

your Son our Lord.

Amen.

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 7: 6-14

‘6 ‘Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you.

7 ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. 9Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? 10Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

12 ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

13 ‘Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

GOSPEL Reflection: Contributed by: Cheryl Courtice

The standout verse for me here is the Golden Rule (V12), cited as the most universally famous thing that Jesus ever said. He was also said to be the first person to say it in the positive form.

As I keep busy striving to do to others as I would like them to do to me, rather than avoiding doings things to others that I wouldn’t want done to me, I notice that this requires a completely different attitude and also a lot more of my time. I must go out of my way to help people and be kind to them as I would wish them to help and to be kind to me. Love, as Jesus demonstrates, will help as I try to do my best to help people.

V6 reminds me of that universal truth that it is not to everyone that we can talk of everything. People can only understand what they are prepared to understand. It is not to everyone that we can bare the secrets of our hearts. William Barclay says “What Christian words cannot do, a Christian life can often do.” So help me God.

V7-11 reassures me that God will always answer my prayers; but he will answer them in his way, and his way will be the way of perfect wisdom and of perfect love. I should persist in prayer, bringing to God an undiscouraged life of prayer, which tests the rightness of the things that I pray for and my sincerity in asking for them.

V13-14 confronts me with a choice, that I cannot evade because we can never stand still. We must take one way or the other. The heart of the matter is that none of us would take the easy, the short, the undisciplined way, if we only thought. William Barclay also says “Everything in this world has two aspects - how it looks at the moment, and how it will look in the time to come. The easy way may look very inviting at the moment, and the hard way may look very daunting. The only way to get our values right is to see not the beginning but the end of the way, to see things not in the light of time but in the light of eternity.”

Again…so help me God! Amen.

FINAL PRAYER: Taize, TiS 741

O Lord hear my prayer,

O Lord hear my prayer:

when I call answer me.

O Lord hear my prayer,

O Lord hear my prayer.

Come and listen to me.

Amen