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24th Sermon of Jesus… The Proper Supplication
(March 19, 1872)

John 16:23
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.”

This verse, which in the Catholic ecclesiastical year is chosen for this Sunday, tells you how, as a consolation for the loss of My person, I gave My disciples the hope that they, if necessary, would receive from My Father in heaven everything they might ask for. I held out this happy prospect to them because thus they could stay in spiritual contact with Me, for even if I was no longer visible to them, I would still hear their prayers and help to have them fulfilled.

This passage in the Bible is easy to understand, but if you look into it more carefully, you will find it holds something much more profound. In order to explain to you its analogy and interpretation, we must first answer the question: “What actually is supplication?”

As I have already often pointed out, you speak many a word without having any idea at all what it really means. This shows how little you know of the depth, force and might of the word as an expression of a thought. Therefore, I am frequently compelled to draw your attention to the individual words forming a Bible text, so as to gradually lead you to their comprehension. As long as you do not know the analysis of the words and their respective interpretation, a comprehension of even the simplest Bible text is out of the question. Then the Bible, with all the treasure of wisdom it contains, remains incomprehensible for you. If one is satisfied with the superficial literal meaning, this could at most give one or the other some comfort and peace in difficult moments of his earthly life.

Reverting to our text from the Gospel of John, let us first answer the question: What is a supplication? Then let us look at its spiritual significance when it is directed to Me as the omniscient Lord and Creator.

Well, a supplication is the imploration for help from someone mightier and stronger when a person’s own strength is insufficient. It is a request for active assistance either for oneself or another being who needs support or help.

What does this imploration prove? It proves one’s own impotence; since one cannot command, one is led to supplicate.

If a supplicant comes to someone with a request and refers to some other well-meaning person or friend with the help of whose name or personal intercession he wants to impress the influential person, this proves that the supplicant, by mentioning a name that is dear or agreeable to the third person, hopes to make him more favourably inclined to grant his request.

This will explain to you why I, as Jesus, recommended to My disciples to ask the Father in Heaven in My name and why I promised them in advance that none of their supplications would remain unfulfilled. Thereby I wanted to keep reminding them of their own impotence, of how incapable they were of achieving things by themselves and wanted thus also to keep alive the memory of My activity and life in their midst, because only in this way – with spiritual aspirations – would they evaluate the things of this world correctly and not misinterpret them.

This way of supplication was to bring about a constant growing of faith in Me, Who – although no longer visible – was still always with them spiritually. This helped them to believe in My descent from above and to pass on to others this unshakable faith in guidance by a supreme being as a Creator, Supporter, Lord and Father.

It is obvious that I, as God, did not require their supplications and had known in advance for eons of times what they needed and what was best for them. The sole purpose of supplication was to awaken in them, as well as in people in general, confidence in Me that I am not a God Whose greatness was to make the tiny human being tremble, but that I, although a God and a Supreme Being, am accessible to My children and created beings as a loving Father through a meek approach, through ardent supplication or prayer which can only be granted by a loving Father, and not by a God who is a severe judge.

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