Luke 11:13 — Community Reflections

LUKE 11:13 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters — there is no neutral position in the face of the kingdom's arrival. The return of the unclean spirit to its swept and put-in-order house, finding it empty and bringing seven worse spirits, warns against the merely moral reform that leaves the space unoccupied: the exorcism that is not followed by kingdom occupancy leaves the person worse than before.

Church Fathers on Luke 11:13

Having laid aside the metaphor, our Lord added an exhortation, and expressly urged us to ask, seek, and knock, until we receive what we are seeking. Hence he says, And I say to you, Ask, and: it shall be given you.
Augustine · 4th century

The words, I say to you, have the force of an oath. For God does not lie, but whenever He makes known any thing to His hearers with an oath, he manifests the inexcusable littleness of our faith.
Cyril of Alexandria · 5th century

Now by asking, He means prayer, but by seeking, zeal and anxiety, as He adds, Seek, and you shall find. For those things which are sought require great care. And this is particularly the case with God. For there are many things which block up our senses. As then we search for lost gold, so let us anxiously seek after God. He shows also, that though He does not forthwith open the gates, we must yet wait. Hence he adds, Knock, and it shall be opened to you; for if you continue…
Chrysostom · 4th century

Read all 17 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain

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