The God who begs

When we think of a beggar few of us would think of God. Rather the image of a homeless person asking for money is probably the picture that would come to us. Yet what the Gospel reveals to us is that God is in fact a ‘beggar’. We think that we are the ones who are seeking him but in reality He is the one who is knocking on the door of our hearts, denied entry unless we open them (Rev 3:20).

And the Good News you learn to accept is that which Moses learnt before the Burning Bush, that you do not need to beg God to come to you or to love you. It is He who begs you to wish to open you heart and your life in all its aspects to accept His burning Love (George Maloney Why not Become Totally Fire?)

When we go to pray we need to keep in mind that ‘God is already before you in your prayer and it is he who begs you to accept Him in the proposal of love He makes to you’ (Jean LaFrance, Pray to your Father in Secret).

If this truth touches our lives in a deeper way we will want to draw closer and closer to our Father in Heaven. Look what the Scripture says:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9

The richness He gives us is His very life, His own Holy Spirit so that we too may be transformed and grow in holiness and love. Like the He did with the blind beggar Bartimeus, Jesus asks us: “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. Mark 10:51-52

And God will send other beggars our way, both spiritually and materially – relatives, friends, illegal immigrants, colleagues. And we do well to remember His Words: ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ Matt 25:40. God is also begging in them! Begging for our love.