St. John of Kronstadt: When you ask anything of the Lord...
When you ask anything of the Lord, immediately contemplate His merciful and generous Right Hand, bestowing upon you His gifts, for it is His Right Hand that has given, and still gives, from God's abundance, everything to all, and consider as foolishness any doubt whether you will or will not obtain that which you ask for—a foolishness similar to that of which the Psalmist said, " The fool hath said in his heart : there is no God.
Thus, in asking any good and generous man for help, we represent to ourselves beforehand his outstretched hand; for earthly benefactors, after the example of their All-merciful Father, are merciful and generous, and give us that which we ask them for immediately after our request, as it is said: " What man is there of you, whom if his son shall ask bread, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent 1 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, Which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him?"
St. John of Kronstadt
