Dire Straits - Thursday of the First Week of Lent

Queen Esther (Edwin Long, 1878)

Readings: Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-5, Matthew 7:7-12

A wise missionary sister in the Philippines once told me, 'You realise that God is all you need, when God is all you've got.'

In the context of dire poverty in a Manila slum, I knew that she was speaking from experience. There was very little material support for her life or the lives of her friends in the slum, and yet she counted herself rich in God. She advised me that my forthcoming noviciate in the English province of Dominican friars would be a time of growth in God, if only I would let God be my strength. I won't say that the noviciate is like living in a slum(!), but if we are able to simplify our lives, we open up a way to recognise God as the source of all our strength.

In today's first reading, Queen Esther is in dire straits. She must confront the king, her husband, to prevent the persecution of her people, the Jews. But in so doing, she must put her own life on the line. 'I will go the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.' Queen Esther's prayer to God reveals the same deep wisdom that acknowledges him as the source of all her strength (Esther 14:3):

O my Lord, thou only art our King; help me, who am alone and have no helper but thee.

We might think we are rarely in such dire straits. But we still have daily struggles to cope with, and we need to draw on God's strength in all these. We need to ask, to seek, to knock – as Jesus tells us in the Gospel. We need to ask God for help, because without his help we are lost. But what happens when we do fervently ask God for help? You should read the rest of Esther's story to find out!

On a very different note, today is the first anniversary of the election of Pope Francis. Let us pray that God will strengthen him in his ministry, as Francis strengthens us through his ministry of serving the universal Church.

Happy anniversary, Pope Francis!