On the day I called, you answered me;

With your right hand you save me;

you increased the strength of my soul.

O Lord, your merciful love is eternal;

 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-256

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 I 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 ＊＊＊      

Matthew 7:7-12

Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened.

For everyone who asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Would any of you give a stone to your son, when he asks for bread? Or give him a snake,

when he asks for a fish? However bad you may be, you know how to give good things to your children.

How much more, then, will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

So, do to others whatever you would that others do to you: there, you have the law and the prophets.

 

Gospel Reflection ：

"God lives in us."

Queen Esther pleads with all her heart for the Lord's help. She and her people are in mortal danger,

and only God can save them. The Lord responds to Esther's earnest plea and ends Haman's plot to eradicate all the Jews of Persia.

 

And yet, we might have prayed earnestly to God and the prayer seems to go unanswered.

We might have prayed countless times for an end to the wars, for an end to corruption or for the healing of a loved one,

but no answer seems to come. Drawing from Saint Paul,

the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin reminds us that God is not just out there,

but that we live in the divine milieu, that we live in God and God lives in us.

 

And so, while we cannot comprehend how the suffering we or others experience fits into God's plan,

we are to remember that we are all part of that bigger picture which God paints

and in which God can draw goodness and beauty even out of evil and sorrow.

So, while we challenge injustice or suffering, we also wait on God patiently when we cannot change the situation, trusting in his providence.