1st WEEK OF LENT (A) :Thursday 26th February 2026

In today’s reading, we are given an insight into the heartfelt prayer of Queen Esther for the deliverance of the Israelites, her people, from the imminent mortal danger of being eliminated by a decree of the king. Esther, as the queen of the Persian Empire, risks her life to approach King Ahasuerus unsummoned, to beg for the lives of her people who are facing annihilation due to a move orchestrated by the wicked official Haman.

At the start of her prayer, she calls out to the Lord to reveal Himself in this time of great distress, remembering the sacred promise made to her ancestors. She then turns her prayer to the part which she needs to play, that is, pleading for courage and persuasion in facing her enemy. Queen Esther’s prayer reveals the two-fold heart of prayer:

(1) whole-hearted dependence and trust in God, and (2) the acknowledgment of that which we are called to and need to do.

In all our prayer, we turn to the One Who alone can fully bear our sorrows and strengthen us to rise again to meet the challenges in our lives each day. And so it is that Jesus assures us: we who ask will be answered, we who search will find, and we who knock will always have the door opened to us. Our Father in Heaven will always give good things to those who ask Him.

PRAYER:  Come to my help, for I am alone and have no one but You, O Lord.