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Lenten Weekday
Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25
Psalm 138:1-2AB, 2CDE-3, 7C-8
Matthew 7:7-12
S
UMMARY
Esther finds herself in the unenviable position as the only one who can
save the Jews in Persia from being killed; but if she approaches the king
without being summoned, she herself will be put to death. So she turns to
God in anguish and prays for Him to spare his people. The Jews repent
and pray as well. In the end, God hears their prayers and saves them. The
Psalm reflects this theme as we pray, “Lord, on the day I called for help,
you answered me.” In the Gospel, Jesus affirms God’s love for us, saying,
“Seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”
R
EFLECTION
St. Peter Damian wanted nothing more than to live a prayer-filled monas-
tic life, yet God had other plans for him and Peter said, “Yes.” It
was a time of great turmoil in the Church and Pope after Pope
tried to rein in the rulers as well as the clerics. Because Peter
Damian was a well educated man, he was chosen to be a Papal
Legate and was sent several times to help resolve crises for the
Church. Eventually he was appointed a Cardinal in spite of his
protests. He wrote many sermons and biographies, some of which
exist today. He was finally allowed to return to his beloved mon-
astery to die.
Esther was living a comfortable life and Peter Damian was praying
and writing in his cell until others intruded in their lives to cause
them to examine what God was calling them to be. Each prayed
fervently to God, then did what they knew to be the right action
even though it wasn’t what they had hoped for themselves.
Have you ever been called out of your comfort zone to do some-
thing bigger or more difficult than you had planned to do? How