John 16,23-28
«So far you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be full.”
These words of Jesus force us to ask a serious question: what are we really asking for? Because we can also ask for things that we imagine will make us happy but instead they don’t.
Sometimes our prayer risks being guided by what we desire in the momentrather than what is really good for us. We may think that a certain situation, a certain result, a certain possibility is the key to our joy, but this is not always the case.
A friend of mine often tells me with a smile that he prays to win the lottery so not only will he be happy but he will be able to do a lot of charity. Can God hear a prayer with this expectation of joy?
The point that Jesus introduces is deeper: asking “in his name” does not simply mean adding a formula, but entering into his logic, into his way of seeing life. It means learning to desire what He desires for us. And this coincides with a prayer we know well: “Thy will be done.”
This expression often puts us in difficulty, because we perceive it as a renunciation or as the risk of something that will not make us happy. We often perceive God’s will as a hefty bill, but God’s will is not arbitrary.
It is the will of someone who loves. And he who loves desires the good of the other, his fullness, his happiness. So, when we say “thy will be done”, we are not giving up something, but we are asking for the only thing that can truly fulfill our life. It’s like saying: give us what makes us truly happy, even when we don’t know how to recognize it.
Saturday 16 May 2026 – (Saturday of the VI Week of Easter)
