"That Your Joy May Be Complete"

May 11th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

Today’s Gospel contains the beautiful passage: “[A]sk and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.” This passage is often troubling, because every one of us has experienced seemingly unanswered prayers. Even when we ask for something in Jesus’ Name, as He instructs us to do in today’s Gospel, we are not guaranteed to receive what we ask.

One of my priests often ends prayers of petition by asking that they be granted only “if it be for [God’s] glory and our salvation.” This statement aptly answers the question of why some prayers appear to go unanswered. It is important to use the verb appear here, because God always answers our prayers “in the way that is best for us” (Baltimore Catechism #3, q. 479). The more our wills are conformed to God’s Will, the more perfect our prayers will be. When we pray for an intention, we must also pray for the grace to accept God’s Will for the situation, even if His Will differs from our own.

Like us, the saints experienced unanswered prayers. St. Zelie Martin famously traveled to Lourdes to pray for physical healing, only to return home unhealed. She died of cancer shortly after. However, God brought many blessings out of St. Zelie’s death, which profoundly impacted her youngest daughter, who grew up to be St. Therese of Lisieux. While St. Zelie’s early death was a difficult cross for her family, God used it to help shape the spiritual lives of her family members, for His glory and for the salvation of countless souls.

The second part of Our Lord’s promise in today’s Gospel also points to the reason why our prayers are not always answered the way we hope: “[S]o that your joy may be complete.” As my priest explained in his sermon on Ascension Thursday, our joy can only be complete in Heaven, when we are united perfectly with God Himself. Until then, we can only experience incomplete joy, joy that is inevitably tainted with some suffering or sorrow, reminding us that we have yet to attain the true joy for which we long.

God will grant anything that we ask in the Name of Jesus, as long as our petition leads to our eternal salvation. He will not grant us anything that will hinder our reaching salvation. Like St. Zelie praying for physical healing, our prayers of petition sometimes appear to go unanswered when we do not receive that for which we pray. However, Jesus instructs us to trust that He is always answering our prayers in the best way that will lead to our eternal salvation, whereby our “joy may be complete.”

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