Today's readings and psalm touch on an essential aspect of a believer's life in God, prayer. They offer us important points on how we must pray.

In the first reading, Esther cries out to the Lord in the hour of need for her people. She prays for courage and strength for the enormous and dangerous task ahead - to enter into the presence of the king even though he has not invited her.

For anyone to walk into the court of the king with no invitation faces the death penalty.

She prays with intense desperation and with total dependence on God. She feels all alone, but then, she alone can save her people. In her prayer, she recalls the faithfulness of God in answering the prayers of His people during former times of distress.

The psalmist too cries out to God in prayer, trusting that God "will do all things for me" just as He has done for His people in the past. His confidence in God's faithfulness leads him to bless and adore God.

In the gospel passage, Jesus teaches his followers to approach God in prayer with boldness and confidence. The process of the prayer of petition is underlined - ask, seek and knock - and the effectiveness of prayer is assumed. The example of how the human father cares for his children and gives them good gifts when they ask him is used to illustrate the way the heavenly Father answers prayers. Total dependence, and a sense of boldness and confidence in God, are important elements in prayer.