Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (7:7-12) in which Jesus says to His disciples “ask and it will be given; seek and you will find; knock and the door will open to you”. Fr Paul says that today the Lenten theme of prayer continues. Prayer is where we ask God for things and we talk to God about what we need. In this interaction between God and ourselves we strengthen the relationship we have with God.Fr Paul explains that sometimes we can fall into the trap of expecting that God will change the course of the world, simply based on our prayers. Fr Paul gives us the example of if one person is praying for rain, and then someone else in the Parish is praying for a sunny day.An element of prayer is to tell God that we trust God, that we will trust that God will do whatever it is best for us and for others. Because only God knows what is best for us in the various circumstances of our lives.As we are usually challenged in this season of Lent Fr Paul invites us to reflect on these two questions:– How are we challenged to pray?– How are we challenged to strengthen that relationship between God and ourselves?