Homily for Thursday, 1st Week of Lent

Homily for Thursday
1st Week of Lent

Feb. 25, 2026
Est C: 12, 14-16, 23-25
Ps 138: 1-3, 7-8
Matt 7: 7-12                                      
Christian Brothers, St. Joseph’s Residence, N.R. 

Esther pleads before the king
(Church of the Holy Cross, Champaign, Ill.)

The Scriptures today obviously concern prayer.  Esther prays desperately that the Lord deliver her people from an unscrupulous, deadly enemy.  Jesus assures us of our Father’s desire to provide “good things to those who ask him” (Matt 7:11).

In another place, Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit as the great gift the Father wants to bestow (Luke 11:13).  The Spirit forges our union with both Jesus and the Father, that is to say, effects grace in our lives, works our redemption.  Whoever asks for this gift will receive it (7:8), for God’s eager to give (7:11).

In Ps 138 we’re confident that “the Lord will complete what he has done for [us]” (v. 8).  He will build up in us the strength (v. 3) to resist our enemy, the enemy more fierce and dangerous than Haman, Esther’s nemesis, so that we may stay close to Jesus and “be enabled to live according to [God’s] will” (Collect) and come in God’s good time to “worship at [his] holy temple and give thanks to [his] name” for eternity (138:2).