What Do We Ask of Jesus?

Sherry Antonetti considers how today's Gospel points to a great truth about God's lavish response to our prayer.

“If you wish, you can make me clean.” (Mark 1:40, from today's Gospel)

Moved with pity, Jesus stretches out His hand. “I do will it. Be made clean.” and the leper is.

One can imagine the leper’s great faith, his deep trust in Jesus to make such an ask. It makes perfect sense that he went about the town telling of Jesus healing him. 

What do we ask of Jesus?

We pay God a compliment by asking great things of Him. (attributed to Saint Teresa of Avila)

What do we ask of Jesus?  And, if perchance, we recognize that Jesus outstretched His hand and said, “I do will it” to our petition, do we give thanks for God’s grace and goodness?

Miracles are not merely for the one healed, but for the witness to the world of God’s reality, of prayers’ efficaciousness, and to remind us that God longs for our good even more than we do. 

They are to be shared.  Prayers for reconciliation, for the right words, for a reunion, for snow, (yes, really), for the healing of a heart, for support when we were struggling economically. I could sit with a Rosary and find a prayer answered for every bead. I recognized that I should be praying a Rosary of thank-yous. 

God has infused my life with miracles

It meant God infused my life with miracles. I should be shouting in the town center, proclaiming the goodness of the Lord, the faithfulness of God to stretch out His hand and say, “I do will it.” The thing with seeing God’s prayers answered in your life is, you start seeing more and more, everywhere you look. It becomes almost lavish to the point of ridiculous to begin praising God with gratitude for all His answers, for all His gifts, for all His willingness to say “Yes” to His beloved children. Jesus is always stretching out His hand to us: He does will it. 

God is always busy doing great things for us. We should pay Him great compliments. 

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Copyright 2025 Sherry Antonetti
Images: Canva