What God Wants
by Fr. Joe Tetlow, SJ
When we hesitate to ask God for what we want, we are already not doing what God wants.
Jesus told us what God wants: "Ask, and you will receive. Seek, and you will find." He promised, "Whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you" (John 15:16). Jesus Himself asked many times, "What do you want me to do for you?"
Here's the thing: God created us intelligent and free. He instructed us to take care of the earth and one another. Jesus showed us how: we are to love one another, feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, and not ask the Father to harm our enemies but instead, pray for those who persecute us, as He did.
Within these parameters, God expects us to use our minds and hearts to discern His will—what is good and acceptable and mature—and to ask for what we need. God really wants to know what we want. So, as Jesus said, we are to tell Him what we want. Sometimes, we have to do it fervently and urgently—heal my sister's cancer, stop the war in Ukraine, and, please, end political lying.
Don't be afraid to ask. Just remember two things. First, whenever we ask, we imply what Jesus said explicitly in His agony in the garden: "Not my will, but yours be done." And second, if the Father says NO, trust that He has something better in mind. Remember how the Father's NO to Jesus turned out: "Save us, Savior of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection, you have set us free."