Knock at the Door
There are few sounds quite so hopeful as a knock at a door.
A knock admits two things at once: that there is a door between us and what we want, and that we have not yet given up hope of its opening.
This morning Christ gives us one of the simplest commands in the Gospel: ask. Seek. Knock. He does not promise that there will be no doors. He tells us what to do when we find one.
And behind the door, he says, is not an indifferent universe.
There is a Father.
Opening Verse
Lord, open my lips.
And my mouth shall declare thy praise.
Invitatory
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for he is our God.
Psalm 94 (95)
Come let us praise the Lord with joy:
let us joyfully sing to God our saviour.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving;
and make a joyful noise to him with psalms.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
For in his hand are all the ends of the earth:
and the heights of the mountains are his.
For the sea is his, and he made it:
and his hands formed the dry land.
Come let us adore and fall down:
and weep before the Lord that made us.
For he is the Lord our God:
and we are the people of his pasture
and the sheep of his hand.
Today if you shall hear his voice,
harden not your hearts:
As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness:
where your fathers tempted me,
they proved me, and saw my works.
Forty years long was I offended with that generation,
and I said: These always err in heart.
And these men have not known my ways:
so I swore in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Come, let us adore the Lord, for he is our God.
Psalmody
Psalm 86 (87)
Antiphon: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.
The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains:
The Lord loveth the gates of Sion
above all the tabernacles of Jacob.
Glorious things are said of thee,
O city of God.
I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me.
Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians,
these were there.
Shall Sion say: This man and that man is born in her?
and the Highest himself hath founded her.
The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes,
of them that have been in her.
The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.
Canticle — Isaias 40:10–17
Antiphon: Behold, the Lord God shall come with strength; his reward is with him.
Behold the Lord God shall come with strength,
and his arm shall rule:
Behold his reward is with him
and his work is before him.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd:
he shall gather together the lambs with his arm,
And shall take them up in his bosom,
and he himself shall carry them that are with young.
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
and weighed the heavens with his palm?
Who hath poised with three fingers the bulk of the earth,
and weighed the mountains in scales,
and the hills in a balance?
Who hath forwarded the spirit of the Lord?
or who hath been his counsellor, and hath taught him?
With whom hath he consulted, and who hath instructed him,
and taught him the path of justice,
And taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold the Gentiles are as a drop of a bucket,
and are counted as the smallest grain of a balance:
Behold the islands are as a little dust.
And Libanus shall not be enough to burn,
nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
All nations are before him as if they had no being at all,
and are counted to him as nothing and vanity.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Behold, the Lord God shall come with strength; his reward is with him.
Psalm 98 (99)
Antiphon: Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain.
The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry:
he that sitteth on the cherubims: let the earth be moved.
The Lord is great in Sion,
and high above all people.
Let them give praise to thy great name:
for it is terrible and holy:
And the king’s honour loveth judgment.
Thou hast prepared directions:
thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.
Exalt ye the Lord our God,
and adore his footstool, for it is holy.
Moses and Aaron among his priests:
and Samuel among them that call upon his name.
They called upon the Lord,
and he heard them:
He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud.
They kept his testimonies,
and the commandment which he gave them.
Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God:
thou wast a merciful God to them,
and taking vengeance on all their inventions.
Exalt ye the Lord our God,
and adore at his holy mountain:
for the Lord our God is holy.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his holy mountain.
Short Reading
1 Peter 4:8–11a
But before all things have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covereth a multitude of sins.
Using hospitality one towards another, without murmuring,
As every man hath received grace, administering the same one to another: as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
If any man speak, let him speak, as the words of God. If any man minister, let him do it, as of the power which God administereth: that in all things God may be honoured through Jesus Christ.
Short Responsory
From the depths of my heart I cry unto thee, O Lord; hear me.
I will seek thy will and walk in thy ways.
Hear me, O Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.
From the depths of my heart I cry unto thee, O Lord; hear me.
Gospel of the Day
Luke 11:5–13
And he said to them: Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him: Friend, lend me three loaves,
Because a friend of mine is come off his journey to me, and I have not what to set before him.
And he from within should answer, and say: Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
Yet if he shall continue knocking, I say to you, although he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend; yet, because of his importunity, he will rise, and give him as many as he needeth.
And I say to you: Ask, and it shall be given you: seek, and you shall find: knock, and it shall be opened to you.
For every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened.
And which of you, if he ask his father bread, will he give him a stone? or a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
Or if he shall ask an egg, will he reach him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the good Spirit to them that ask him?
Benedictus
Canticle of Zachary — Luke 1:68–79
Antiphon: Let us serve the Lord in holiness, for he hath visited and redeemed his people.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel;
because he hath visited and wrought the redemption of his people:
And hath raised up an horn of salvation to us,
in the house of David his servant:
As he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets,
who are from the beginning:
Salvation from our enemies,
and from the hand of all that hate us:
To perform mercy to our fathers,
and to remember his holy testament,
The oath, which he swore to Abraham our father,
that he would grant to us,
That being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
we may serve him without fear,
In holiness and justice before him,
all our days.
And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest:
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways:
To give knowledge of salvation to his people,
unto the remission of their sins:
Through the bowels of the mercy of our God,
in which the Orient from on high hath visited us:
To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death:
to direct our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Ghost.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Antiphon: Let us serve the Lord in holiness, for he hath visited and redeemed his people.
Intercessions
Our heavenly Father knows what his children need before they ask, yet Christ teaches us to come to him with confidence. Let us pray:
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For the Holy Church of God, that she may never cease to knock at the door of heaven in prayer and to open her own doors in charity,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For the Pope, bishops, priests, deacons, religious, and all who serve the Church, that their work may be sustained not merely by their own strength but by the Holy Spirit,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For nations divided by war, suspicion, poverty, and fear; for those who govern them; and for all who work quietly for peace,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For those beginning their day’s work, for those seeking employment, for those burdened by responsibilities, and for those uncertain of the next step,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For our homes and families, especially where there is anxiety, misunderstanding, loneliness, or estrangement, that charity may cover a multitude of sins,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For those who have prayed long for healing, reconciliation, a child, a vocation, a home, or an answer that has not yet come, that they may not mistake God’s silence for his absence,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For the sick, the dying, the forgotten, and all who will face this day in pain,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
For the faithful departed, that the Father whose door they sought in faith may welcome them into the joy of his house,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
And for ourselves: give us courage to ask, patience to seek, persistence to knock, and wisdom to receive the gifts thou knowest we truly need,
Father, hear thy children who call upon thee.
Our Father
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Amen.
Concluding Prayer
Almighty and everlasting Father, thou hast taught us through thy Son to ask, to seek, and to knock. Give us the humility to know our need, the confidence to bring it before thee, and the perseverance to remain at thy door.
Pour thy Holy Spirit upon us, that the gifts we seek may become the grace we need, and that all we receive may be used in love and service of our neighbour.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Blessing
May the Lord bless us,
and preserve us from all evil,
and bring us unto everlasting life.
Amen.
The Paradox of the Day
The closed door becomes an act of hope the moment we knock upon it.
Chesterton for the Morning
“The test of all happiness is gratitude.”
— G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, “The Ethics of Elfland”
A Chestertonian Meditation
The Man at the Door
There is something wonderfully undignified about knocking on a door.
A man may walk down the road with great dignity. He may own property, hold degrees, carry important papers in a leather case, and possess firm opinions on nearly everything. But put him on somebody else’s porch at midnight and all his grandeur vanishes.
He knocks.
Then he waits.
And suddenly he is dependent upon someone on the other side.
This is perhaps why prayer is so difficult for us.
We do not especially mind believing in God. Believing can remain quite respectable. We may believe in God as we believe in mountains or mathematics. Neither requires us to stand on a doorstep asking for bread.
But Christ will not leave God at the respectable distance of an idea.
He calls him Father.
And then he tells us to knock.
The little story in today’s Gospel is almost comic. A man has received an unexpected guest. Hospitality demands food, but his cupboard is bare. So off he goes through the dark village and begins pounding on his neighbour’s door.
The neighbour is in bed.
The children are in bed.
The door is bolted.
Everything about the situation says: Too late.
The man knocks anyway.
There is a wonderfully Christian stubbornness in that.
We often imagine faith as certainty. Sometimes faith looks much more like standing outside a closed door and knocking once more.
We pray for a sick friend.
Nothing seems to happen.
We pray for a child.
Nothing seems to happen.
We pray for peace in a family, wisdom about work, relief from fear, help with money, forgiveness for something we cannot undo.
The door appears firmly shut.
And here Christ says something astonishing.
Knock again.
Not because God is a sleepy neighbour who must finally be irritated into helping us. The whole point is precisely the opposite. Even a sleepy neighbour eventually gets up. Even imperfect fathers know that a child asking for breakfast should not be handed a scorpion.
How much more your Father.
That is the hinge upon which the whole passage turns.
Prayer is not chiefly a technique for getting things.
Prayer is the discovery of who is on the other side of the door.
A Father.
This does not mean that every request receives the answer we have designed for it. Christ makes an even stranger promise. After speaking of bread and fish and eggs, he tells us what the Father ultimately gives:
the Holy Spirit.
We ask for a map, and God sometimes gives courage to walk.
We ask for the obstacle to disappear, and sometimes he gives strength to climb it.
We ask for certainty, and sometimes he gives enough light for the next ten feet of road.
We ask for the door to open.
And sometimes the first thing that opens is us.
This is where Chesterton’s remark about gratitude becomes unexpectedly useful. “The test of all happiness is gratitude.”
Gratitude and petition might seem like opposites. Petition says, “I need something.” Gratitude says, “I have received something.”
But Christian prayer contains both at once.
The man knocking for bread has already received something remarkable: he has a friend whose door is worth knocking upon.
The child asking his father for food already possesses something greater than the food: he has a father to ask.
And we, before receiving a single thing for which we pray today, have already received the astonishing privilege of saying:
Our Father.
That changes the landscape.
The sunrise becomes a gift.
The coffee becomes a gift.
The irritating person at breakfast becomes — with considerably more spiritual effort — a gift.
The work waiting on the desk is a gift because we have hands and minds with which to attempt it.
Even the unanswered prayer may reveal a gift hidden inside it: the discovery that we are not self-sufficient.
Chesterton understood that existence itself is surprising. The great mistake is to treat the universe as though it were an invoice: something expected, itemized, and owed to us.
It is nothing of the sort.
We woke up this morning.
That alone is rather extraordinary.
The world is still here.
There are trees outside. There is probably a bird making a ridiculous amount of noise for something weighing three ounces. Somewhere bread is baking. Somewhere a child is waking his parents much earlier than they would prefer. Somewhere the Missouri River is moving past Atchison as it has moved through mornings long before ours.
None of these things had to be.
Yet here they are.
And here are we.
Perhaps this is why Christ’s image of knocking is so much better than our image of demanding.
A demand assumes ownership.
A knock assumes gift.
We knock because the house belongs to another.
We ask because the bread belongs to another.
We pray because life itself belongs to Another.
And that is not humiliating in the degrading sense. It is liberating.
The universe ceases to be a machine from which we must somehow extract enough happiness before it breaks down. It becomes a Father’s house.
There will still be locked doors.
There will still be long nights.
There will still be prayers whose answers we do not understand.
Christianity does not pretend otherwise.
But it tells us something more important than whether the door presently appears open or closed.
It tells us who lives there.
So bring God the impossible thing this morning.
Bring him the ordinary thing too.
Ask for the reconciliation.
Ask for the job.
Ask for wisdom.
Ask for healing.
Ask for patience with the person who has exhausted your patience.
Ask for forgiveness.
Ask for faith when even asking seems foolish.
Then listen carefully to Christ’s words.
Ask.
Seek.
Knock.
And if today you find yourself standing before a door that has remained closed for a very long time, remember what the closed door cannot tell you.
It cannot tell you that the house is empty.
Christ has already told you otherwise.
Your Father is home.
Knock.
Lord Jesus Christ, teach us to ask without demanding, to seek without despairing, and to knock without losing heart.
And when the door seems closed, remind us who is on the other side.
Chesterton Radio