Thursday – 1st Week of Lent – A

In today's first reading from the Book of Esther, we hear about her story. Esther, for those of you who are unfamiliar, was the Queen of Persia, the wife of King Ahasuerus, whom he had chosen to replace Queen Vashti after she was deposed. And though Queen Esther was Jewish by birth and raised by her cousin Mordecai, her identity had initially been concealed from the Persians and from the king, and thus she now stood in the uniquely dangerous position of being both a member of the condemned people and the king's own consort with privileged yet perilous access to the one man who could revoke their destruction, for the lead up to this moment begins when Haman, a high official in the Persian court, becomes enraged at Mordecai because he refuses to bow before him, and in retaliation, he manipulates King Ahasuerus into issuing an irrevocable imperial decree ordering the annihilation of all the Jews throughout the empire on a single appointed day. This is a decree which throws the entire Jewish population into mourning and fasting, and prompts Mordecai to urge Esther to reveal her identity and intervene with the king, warning her that she too will not escape the decree, and that perhaps she has come to royal dignity for such a time as this. In other words, he believed this was by providence, by God's design, and in fact it was thus.

This reading comes from the decisive turning point in the Book of Esther, when the Jewish people living in the Persian Empire are under a decree of extermination issued through the influence of Haman. The queen, Esther, realises that approaching the king without being summoned could mean her death. And so, standing at this moment of radical risk, she fasts, lies prostrate with her attendants, and entrusts herself entirely to the God of Israel, asking for the courage to take her life in her hand, in other words, to risk her own life for her people by interceding before the king so that God might use her as the instrument through whom he will reverse the fate of his people and turn impending destruction into deliverance. Not only does the king not condemn her, but he extends to her his golden staff, and he listens to her plea, and not only frees the people of Israel, but he also condemns Haman for his treacherous plan to do away with them.

My brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel, Jesus reminds us, even with Queen Esther as our model, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). One of the penances during Lent is to give ourselves more to prayer, a deeper prayer life. And it's a penance because it's not always easy. And we know we have to set aside time, and we know that it could be, for a lot of us, not the most thrilling thing in the world until we get immersed in the presence of God, and then it becomes our bread, our food, our lifeline to be with him. He is the source of all that is good in our life. He is the merciful King who spares us, who has mercy on us, but who wants us to be with him, just like King Ahasuerus wanted Esther to remain with him. My dear brothers and sisters, through the true Queen of Heaven and her intercession, may you be blessed on your journey of Lent so that you too may deepen your prayer life and your connection to God through her help. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Go in peace. Thanks be to God.