John 15:1-27
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. … You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. (vv. 7, 16 ) I commented below in that first post how Jesus emphasizes His words by repeating certain words, phrases, and compete thoughts. Here Jesus’ repetition is “asking”, with a prelude of “abiding” occurring three times – we abiding in Jesus; His words abiding in us; and the fruit that we bear abiding. I looked up the word abiding: “lasting a long time; enduring”. (Oxford Dictionaries) So if we want to be successful in our “asking” prayer life, we need to (1) last a long time (endure) with Jesus; (2) have His words lasting a long time (enduring) in us; and (3) have the fruit that we bear lasting a long time (enduring). Those of us reading these words together have been a long time with Jesus – certainly at different levels, but still with Him. His words have been with us a long time – our presence and participation in Eucharistic celebrations years on end have provided us countless Gospel lessons and sermons (His words) to digest. Then there’s the question of fruit that we bear. In that same first post below I discussed the concept of fruit that we bear. There I talked in terms of converts or love – surely there’s more. Just now I’m thinking of service – service to our church, to our friends, to our neighborhood, to people far away we don’t even know. I’m not sure what “fruit” God is asking of us, but whatever that fruit is, if it’s part of our lives our “asking” prayer lives will become more powerful.
See also: November 3 / John 15:1-8; November 4 / John 15:9-17; November 5 / John 15:18-27