＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25*

(….)Seized with anguish in her fear of death,

Queen Esther likewise had recourse to the Lord. (….) Then she prayed to the Lord God of Israel: My Lord, you who stand alone, come to my help; I am alone and have no help but you. Through my own choice! am endangering my life.

As a child I was wont to hear from the people of the land of my forebears that you, O Lord, chose Israel from among all people, and our fathers from among their ancestors to be your lasting heritage; that you did for them, all that you have promised.

Remember us, Lord; reveal yourself in the time of our calamity. Give me courage, king of gods and master of all power. Make my words persuasive when I face the lion; turn his heart against our enemy, that the latter and his like may be brought to their end.

Save us by your hand; help me who am alone and have none but you, O Lord.

 

Ps 138: 1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8

Lord, on the day I called for help, you answered me.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Gospel Reflection：

The gospel today speaks of confident hope. We are confident and hopeful in front of God if we have a loving and trusting relationship with Him. Most of the time, the reason why we have difficulty in asking, or we are full of doubts and insecurities on the love of God for us, is our own doing.

We know deep down that we are not deserving of God’s love because we did not make an effort to be close to Him. The surprise is, no matter what we do, God will never withdraw His love for us.

It is us who are affected by our unfaithfulness, our disregard of God in times of plenty and many others that make us doubt whether God will lisen to our pleas. Thus we could not ask. We could not knock.