So it turns out that this past year, my classmates and I from high school celebrated 25 years graduated from high school. It’s kind of a big deal. I’m also giving away my age. So it turns out that there’s a few of us who are still pretty close from high school. I went to an all-boys school, and it’s great to see those guys, and there’s some of us that are pretty close. We see each other a few times a year. What a joy it is for me to watch my friends, who are now 25 years past high school, to watch my friends raise their children!

Now there’s one guy who makes specialized pancakes for his kids – Mickey Mouse or Minnie Mouse or Pluto or Donald Duck pancakes. Now I don’t know where he came up with this skill, but he can make a little train out of pancake batter for his children. Or my other friend who spent hours building a dollhouse for his daughter. Or my other friend who wants to take his son to every single American and national baseball field in this whole country. Can you imagine that?

It’s an honor for me to watch my classmates be fathers. It’s an honor. They’re good guys, and they’re doing a good job of it. And I thought about that when I read the gospel, when Jesus says, “If you love your children, how much more does my Heavenly Father love you?” And so you watch those fathers be fathers, and how much more then does God want to be our protector, does God want to be our security, does God want to shed his mantle of love over us?

Jesus tells us quite clearly how to pray. He also tells us that his Father wants to be our protector, our help, and our guide. The other thing he tells us today in the gospel – three things – that we are called to ask, to seek, and to knock. And that if we’re looking for God’s blessings, we have to pray specifically for God’s blessings, for God’s strength in our life, for the courage that we need or for the support that we need or for the hope that we need or for the faith that we need or whatever it is that we need, we have to ask and we have to seek and we have to knock. Jesus tells us. So let us, friends, on this day ask for what we need. Seek after the Lord with all our hearts. Knock on the Lord’s door. He will answer.