Knock, and it Shall Be Opened

I love prayer. I mean, come on. How cool is it that we get to take part in something so much bigger than us, something that transcends space and time as we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and participate in the neverending sacrifice of the Mass?......Way cool!

But in looking at prayer, I have one thing to comment on: "Knock and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). Just think about this in context with the idea that no prayer goes unanswered. Keep in mind that God does not always answer every prayer the way that the pray-er wants it to be answered, but they are still always answered.

For instance, if I am praying for my friend Wendy's newly born baby, Madeline, and I am praying that the Lord is preparing a great guy in his infancy now for her, and she's called to be a religious, my prayers will still be heard. Even if I am praying that she marry a Catholic man, and it so happens that that Catholic Man is Jesus, then my prayer is being heard, just not the way that I expect it.

Likewise, when we pray for women who enter the abortion mill, the more and more that we pray for them, the more and more God will hear the prayers. In our knocking (praying), God is opening some sort of door. Neither He nor we, in our feebleness, can force that woman to go through the door, but God has opened it for her to see. Every time we say a prayer for her, He either reopens that door, if she just closed it, or opens it wider, if she has yet to close it. Think how much good it can do for a person who is unsure about their decision to have an abortion. If God continues to manifest Himself to her as a response to our prayers, then she very likely will just change her mind and walk out. If we keep praying, and the door gets so wide that the woman cannot miss it, then we've succeeded in bringing her closer to Christ and saving both she and her baby.

The beauty of prayer is that no matter how often we pray, the good Lord will keep opening doors for people (talk about chivalry). In that light, we must realize that we must continue to pray for people, especially those obstinate sinners who appear un-convertable. They need the prayers the most, and when the Lord constantly is opening doors for them or making the opening bigger, the can't ignore it for all their life. Pray, and the door shall be opened.

If we can assist in the conversion of the most obstinate sinner through our prayers, imagine what we can do for the person searching for the light of Truth.

Our Lady, Help of Christians and Exterminatrix of Heresies...pray for us.