Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Eugène Burnand, “The Importunate Neighbor”

And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:5–13)

Be urgent in prayer; draw near unto God Who loves to be kind; and that very constantly. And if you see that the gift of grace is delayed, do not yield to weariness: do not despair of the expected blessing: do not abandon the hope set before you; nor further foolishly say within yourself, “I have drawn near frequently; I have gained absolutely nothing; I have wept, and received not; I have supplicated, but not been accepted: for of all I asked, nothing has been accomplished.” Rather think thus within yourself, that He Who is the universal treasure house better knows our state than we do, in that He bestows to every man what is due and suitable to him. You ask sometimes what is beyond your ability; you wish to receive those things of which you are not yet worthy. The Giver Himself knows the time suitable for His gifts. Earthly fathers do not immediately and without discretion fulfill the desire of their sons: but often delay in spite of their asking, and that not because they have a grudging hand, nor again because they regard (merely) what is pleasant to the petitioners, but as considering what is useful and necessary for their good conduct. And how will that rich and bounteous Giver neglect the due accomplishment for men of what they pray for, unless of course, and without all doubt, He knows that it would not be for their benefit to receive what they ask? We must therefore offer our prayers to God with knowledge, as well as with close attentiveness: and even though there be some delay in your requests, continue patiently with the harvesters, as being well assured that what is gained without toil, and readily won, is usually despised: whereas that which is gathered with labor is a more pleasant and abiding possession.

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Therefore examine your prayer: for if you ask anything by receiving which you will become a lover of God, God, as I said, will grant it: but if it be any thing unreasonable, or that is able to do you an injury, He will withhold His hand: He will not bestow the wished-for object; in order that neither He may give anything of an injurious nature,—for this is completely alien from Him,—nor you be harmed yourself by receiving it. And let me explain how: for which purpose I shall bring forward examples. When you ask for wealth, you wilt not receive it from God: and why? Because it separates the heart of man from Him. Wealth begets pride, self-indulgence, and the love of pleasure, and brings men down to the pitfalls of worldly lusts.…

Ask, therefore, the bestowal of spiritual gifts without restriction. Ask strength, that you may be able manfully to resist every fleshly lust. Ask of God an uncovetous disposition; long-suffering; gentleness; and the mother and nurse of all good, I mean, patience. Ask calmness of temper; self-control; a pure heart; and further, ask also the wisdom that comes from Him. These things He will give readily: these save the soul: these work in it that better beauty, and imprint in it God’s image. This is the spiritual wealth; the riches that have never to be abandoned: these prepare for us the lot of the saints, and make us members of the company of the holy angels; these perfect us in piety, and rapidly lead us onward to the hope of eternal life, and make us heirs of the kingdom of heaven, by the aid of Christ, the Savior of us all; by Whom, and with Whom, to God the Father be praise and dominion, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever, Amen.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on St. Luke 78, 79