Friend of God in Prayer!

Thursday, October 8, 2026

Gal 3: 1-5; Lk 11: 5-13

Today’s Gospel highlights that our relationship with God should have the same intimacy, confidence, and trust that a genuine friendship has. 

Jesus tells them a parable to explain what a true friendship looks like through three pointers.

1. The friend in need chooses midnight as the time to bother his friend. According to him, a friend is one we can disturb at an unexpected hour. At that time of night, when he has nowhere else to turn to, he can only think of his friend, regardless of the inconvenience he may cause. Jesus lets the truth sink in his audience that a true friend is the person we remember in our time of need. 

2. The friend in need comes up with a real request, which is hard to fulfil at that time of night. The request for three loaves of bread is extraordinary because the family should have had loaves in excess, or they should have baked them if no storage was left. However, this occasion invites us to reflect on the liberty in friendship, which gives us the room to be ourselves with another ‘stranger.’ It is this liberty that makes friendships spontaneous and informal.

3. The friend in need persists in his request. We must also note that the friend in need has the confidence to persist without the fear of being misunderstood. This points to the rich quality that good friendships enjoy and are privileged with. When Jesus gives us three words, ‘ask,’ ‘seek,’ and ‘knock,’ he wants us to persist with God. Here, persistence is highlighted as a sure sign of good friendship and a deepening of our relationship with God.

With these ‘friendship pointers,’ Jesus wishes that our friendship with God mimics the characteristics of genuine human friendship and connection.

1. Prayer begins with the confidence that we can approach God at any time. God never feels any inconvenience in our approach.

2. Our relationship with God should enjoy spontaneity. If freedom to bother God is a sure sign of spirituality, honesty explains yet another dimension of it.

3. Persistence in prayer reveals an unshakable trust in God. Continuing to hope without giving up even when answers are delayed demonstrates a deeper relationship with God.

Let us pray that we may become a friend of God in and through prayer. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar