20260226 THE GOLDEN RULE OF PRAYER
26 February 2026, Thursday, 1st Week of Lent
First reading | Esther 4:17 |
I am alone, Lord, and have no-one but you
Queen Esther took refuge with the Lord in the mortal peril which had overtaken her. She besought the Lord God of Israel in these words:
‘My Lord, our King, the only one,
come to my help, for I am alone
and have no helper but you
and am about to take my life in my hands.
‘I have been taught from my earliest years, in the bosom of my family,
that you, Lord, chose
Israel out of all the nations
and our ancestors out of all the people of old times
to be your heritage for ever;
and that you have treated them as you promised.
‘Remember, Lord; reveal yourself
in the time of our distress.
‘As for me, give me courage,
King of gods and master of all power.
Put persuasive words into my mouth
when I face the lion;
change his feeling into hatred for our enemy,
that the latter and all like him may be brought to their end.
‘As for ourselves, save us by your hand,
and come to my help, for I am alone
and have no one but you, Lord.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 137(138):1-3,7-8 |
On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.
I thank you, Lord, with all my heart:
you have heard the words of my mouth.
In the presence of the angels I will bless you.
I will adore before your holy temple.
On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.
I thank you for your faithfulness and love,
which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered;
you increased the strength of my soul.
On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.
You stretch out your hand and save me,
your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal,
discard not the work of your hands.
On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation | Joel2:12-13 |
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Now, now – it is the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with all your heart,
for I am all tenderness and compassion.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Or: | Ps50:12,14 |
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
A pure heart create for me, O God,
and give me again the joy of your help.
Glory to you, O Christ, you are the Word of God!
Gospel | Matthew 7:7-12 |
Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Is there a man among you who would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or would hand him a snake when he asked for a fish? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
‘So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.’
THE GOLDEN RULE OF PRAYER
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Es 4:17; Ps 138:1-3,7-8; Mt 7:7-12]
At the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the Golden Rule. “So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.” What has this golden rule to do with the text on prayer? How does treating others “as you would like them to treat you” sum up the Law and the Prophets? We must not think that the evangelist put in all these sayings of Jesus together at random. The intention of the evangelist is to show how prayer and the Golden Rule empower us to find stability in Christian discipleship. The season of Lent is about forming us in discipleship in Christ.
We will find stability when, as disciples, we learn to depend on our heavenly Father. This is the one constant in this world. We can live a life of peace and security by cultivating a healthy dependence on our heavenly Father. Effective prayer, therefore, is not so much what we say or how we say it. Rather, it is how we relate to the heavenly Father. The question is: do we trust that God is our heavenly Father who will look after us and take care of us? Or do we think that God would conduct Himself the way we conduct ourselves with others?
So how does God relate to us as Father? When Jesus told His disciples to ask, seek and knock with expectation in prayer, He was leading His disciples into the intimacy of fellowship with the Father, just as He Himself was intimate in His relationship with His Father. The three metaphors for prayer suggest that there are degrees of intimacy in our relationship with the Father, expressed through the intensity of our prayers. Asking indicates that we come before God with humility and a consciousness of our total dependence on Him for our needs, just as a child would depend on his father. Seeking implies that apart from being reliant on Him, we are also seeking to do His will. So before we ask of the Father, we must ask ourselves whether it is in accordance with His will. Not all prayers are answered except those that are in accordance with His holy will, because His will is His wisdom. God knows what we need more than we know. Finally, to keep knocking means that we persevere in prayer – in asking and in seeking God’s will – trusting that when our will is purified, we become one with God in seeking His will.
Persistence in prayer will be met by God with the certainty of an answer. What is the disciples’ basis for this confidence? This confidence must be rooted in our attitude towards God as our Father. Earlier in chapter six of Matthew, Jesus taught His disciples to pray the “Our Father” and reminded them of the providence of their heavenly Father. If He looks after the birds and the flowers how much more will He will look after our needs, provided that we “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Mt 6:33) Indeed, as the Lord emphasised, “For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him.” The emphasis is on “always”. This assurance is given to “everyone,” meaning that all those who have followed Jesus as His disciples can share in the same confidence in God as Father.
To help us to gain confidence in the providence of our heavenly Father, Jesus assures us that “the Father will answer with what he knows is good for his children.” He will certainly not mock at his children by giving a stone to a son when he asks for bread, or trick him with a snake that resembles a fish. This snake is most probably an eel, and Jews are not allowed to eat eel because it is an unclean fish prohibited in the Law. (cf Lev 11:12) The other thing to take note is that bread and fish are staple foods, the daily nourishment that a father provides for His children. If a responsible father knows how to provide the daily needs for their children, how much more will the heavenly Father, who loves His children, give them what they truly need? Proceeding from an a fortiori argument, Jesus said, “If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” Surely, no earthly father can be more reliable than the heavenly Father.
But being a true disciple of our Lord goes beyond finding stability in providing for his own needs. He must go beyond himself to care for others. We are called to live in such a way that we benefit others. If God is our heavenly Father, then we are all His children. So a true son and daughter of God does not only concern himself or herself only with personal needs, but also the needs of others, especially fellow disciples. And since God is our heavenly Father, we, His children, are called to reflect the Father’s love and commitment in our own lives.
Indeed, the entire Sermon on the Mount seeks to teach us about discipleship. The motivation for discipleship comes from our experience of the Father’s love and mercy. From that experience, we will look at others and judge them the way God judges us. When the Lord said that His Father will give us all that is good, the “good” is measured by the values of the kingdom, summed up in the Beatitudes. Earlier, when speaking about forgiving and praying for our enemies, Jesus reminded us how His Father acts: “He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:45-48)
This is why the Lord gave us the Golden Rule, saying, “So always treat others as you would like them to treat you; that is the meaning of the Law and the Prophets.” In this statement, Jesus articulates the essence of God’s will as revealed in the Old Testament and makes it applicable to His disciples as well. This Golden Rule differs from the parallel sayings taught by others, including Confucius. For them, their golden rule is expressed negatively in the form of reciprocity: “what you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others”. In the case of Jesus, however, He presents it uniquely in the positive form. He is not merely saying that we should refrain from doing to others what we would not want done to us. That would be more a legal principle of life, and one does not need religion to observe it.
Goodness in life does not consist merely of doing nothing to harm anyone or doing nothing at all. Rather, we are called to act positively and to do good to others. A Christian, therefore, must actively do to others what he or she would like them to do to them. It is not enough to refrain from doing evil: we must also do good. For this reason, we need to be motivated by the love of God within us. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We provide for others because God has provided for us. We help others because God has blessed us with resources. If everyone seeks to do good like our heavenly Father, then this world would be a better place. Consequently, the Golden Rule is simply living out the greatest commandment of the Law, which the Lord taught: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Take note that, again, He repeated, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Mt 22:37-40; cf. Dt 6:4-5; Lev 19:18)
For this reason, when Queen Esther prayed to God for mercy on behalf of her fellow Jews, with confidence in Him, her prayers were answered. She could have ignored the plight of her fellow Jews, but she did not. Instead, she risked her life and position to save them. She observed the Golden Rule of prayer, not just praying for oneself but by interceding for others, manifesting her confidence in God through her care for her persecuted fellowmen. Love is the ultimate guiding principle of Christian discipleship, and mutual forgiveness its hallmark.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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