"And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. " Luke 11:9

Since I was little, my parents already instilled in me the daily habit of praying. Before going to bed, I would ask Papa Jesus to take care of my dad, my mom, my lolo, my lola, my yaya... I would recite a list of names each night, and when I ran out of people to pray for, I would conclude my prayer with "and please bless everyone else in the world." As we age, our way of praying changes. Instead of praying for others, we become more focused on ourselves and our needs— "Lord, I pray that I will pass the exam tomorrow" "Lord, please help me lose weight" or "Lord, sana mapansin nako ng crush ko". Somewhere down the road towards adulthood, we misplaced our compassion for others and became more demanding as a result of its consequence.

In today's Gopel, we are invited to reflect upon the importance of prayer in our daily lives. We first encounter Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray, as He says:

"When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread

and forgive us our sins

for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,

and do not subject us to the final test."

First and foremost, Jesus calls us to request for our daily bread. This bread is not the food we eat, rather, it is the Bread of Life, which is the Lord Himself. He asks us to turn to Him "daily", for when we find guidance through the Lord, we are able to lead a more fulfilling and moral life. In the latter part, Jesus calls us to ask for forgiveness and to be more forgiving in return, while also seeking God's mercy. It is natural for us imperfect beings to deviate from the standards of right and wrong sometimes. But when we allow our transgressionsions to define who we are, that’s when we lose sight of our purpose in life. Through prayer, we are able to communicate with the Lord. And when we choose to encounter God every day, we become more honest with who we are despite our sinfulness. 

In the same way that prayer allows us to become better versions of ourselves, Jesus also encourages us to use prayer as a means to help others. Remember earlier in the Gospel, about the man who disturbs his friend in the middle of the night? I'm sure many of you sympathized more with the awakened friend. However, Jesus urges us instead to be more like the bothering friend whose generosity knows no bounds. In your own life, how many times have you been asked a favor that you didn’t want to do? Did you do it anyway? And if you did, did your treatment towards that person change afterwards? Often times, we do things for others because we feel obliged to, not because we want to. Nowadays, we forget to put meaning and sincerity into our actions and this, in itself, is a form of selfishness. Because, once again, we shift the spotlight away from the need of others to focus more on the inconvenience they placed on us. Throughout writing this reflection, someone kept advising me to write it "with heart”. And that really resounded with me; in all things that we do, we should do them with heart. Prayer is an amazing gift from God, which he invites us to regift to others! When we pray and do more for others, we become closer to identifying with the likeliness of God. 

As the passage draws to a close, Jesus leaves us with some parting words of advice:

“…ask and you will receive;

seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.”

When we actively seek the Lord, especially in our times of need, we allow ourselves to embody a potential for change. Often times, we become so disheartened by the hardships around us that we underestimate the power of prayer. In my own life, I struggle every single day with problems at school, at home, with others, and even with myself. There are times when I feel like dropping to the ground because it feels like the weight of the world is crashing down on me. I'm sure many of you can relate. But if there's anything I learned from my oppressions, it's that if you're going to fall, fall on your knees. Because when you pray, you are placing yourself in the best position to receive the Lord's grace and His blessings.

-Caitlin Oliveros