Perhaps today's Gospel reading does not quite match our experience. How many times have we asked and not received? How many times have we knocked and not had the door opened? And yet, is that really true? How many times has the thing we asked for not come our way but something else quite different and - after reflection - much better? Later on, we can come to realize that even a very painful experience was a grace. The core of today's reading depends on our belief that God, who loves us so much as to send His Son to die for us, knows what is really good for us. And what is good for us - remember when our mothers made us take nasty-tasting medicine? - may not be something we like or ask for. Jesus Himself begged with sweat and tears not to have to suffer. But it was precisely in the acceptance of those sufferings that God's love for us was revealed. Ultimately, what we need to ask for is not what we want but for what is good for us and leave the decision about that to our loving God. And the best thing of all to ask for is that God's will may become mine also.