The Father in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

Today’s Gospel is a brief, but dense catechesis of Jesus on prayer as his disciples asked him to do. Jesus insists that we must ask, seek, knock with the confidence that we will not be left without an answer. Could it be that it is really just those three verbs? Should we not ask ourselves: What is it that we ask for or what are we looking for, and where or whom is it that we need to call? Jesus tells us at the end of today’s text: the Father who is in heaven will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. Asking for the Holy Spirit is the first and most important thing we need to do in prayer. He will teach us to seek what we really need, and it is He who can cry out from the bottom of our hearts, with unspeakable groanings, as Paul says, asking for what we really need.