October 9, 2025 // Optional Memorial of Saint Denis, Bishop and Martyr, and his Companions, Martyrs // Optional Memorial of Saint John Leonardi, Priest
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Luke 11:5-13
Reflect on the Word //
The stress of moving was overwhelming: purging and packing, painters and handymen, outrageous demands from our buyers. As a result, insomnia, anxiety, and chronic pain surged throughout my body. Days before we were scheduled to move, I got so sick, I was bedridden.
Where are You? I prayed. Why don’t You want to help me?
I related to the friend knocking on the door in today’s Gospel. Only I was begging God for help in the midst of moving and for hope and healing from health issues that this move was aggravating. And just like in the Gospel, God made me wait. He allowed me to be persistent in prayer (in the case of my health issues, for years). Not to be cruel or to punish me—that is not how God works. But to invite me to fully depend on Him—to help me recognize my self-reliance pales in comparison to His grace and strength.
As I approached our new home, it was as if the Lord finally opened the door to my knocking. And as I walked through the doorway, my prayers were answered, almost immediately. The insomnia disappeared, the pain throughout my body eased, and my heart found peace—and this was only the beginning of the healing I began to experience.
My dear sister, Jesus loves when we pray to Him, and He never tires of hearing from us. He wants us to come to Him with our every need: “[A]sk and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Luke 11:9).
Whatever we are praying for today, He invites us to be persistent. He may not answer our prayers right away, because what we may be asking for is a snake instead of a fish (see Luke 11:11). But as we persevere in prayer, our hearts will soften to His ways and conform to His will. So that one day, when we ask, we will receive; when we seek, we will find; and when we knock, the Lord will, indeed, open the door for us.
Relate to the Lord // Where do you need to persevere in prayer? Ask again today.
