[00:00] I wanted to share with you just two thoughts this morning, the first about today's saint, St. Margaret of Cortona. She was born in 1247 in Tuscany. The beginning part of her life was sinful. At 17, she left home, began to cohabitate with a local nobleman, had a child out of wedlock. It was a great scandal in the city.

[00:30] She persevered in that sinful way of life until her lover was murdered. That shook her up, led her to a radical conversion. She went to the local Franciscan friary, made a full confession of her sins, entered the Third Order and lived a life of penance until her death in 1297 when she died, regarded as a saint. She had to persevere through many a strong temptation to revert to that former way of life, but she persevered with the help of God's grace and made it to the end.

[01:05] And her story reminds us, teaches us that today's great sinners can be tomorrow's saints. Today, people we know or just see truly can be on the wrong path, on a path that leads to hell, but grace can really change people. And we should think about that before we harshly judge anyone. Because today's great sinners, even the most scandalous ones in the most breathtakingly

[01:35] scandalous situations like St. Margaret of Cortona in her day, they can be tomorrow's saints. We were yesterday's breathtaking sinners, and today grace has changed us. So it's a good thought before we judge anybody. Today's sinners can be tomorrow's even canonized saints. That's what I wanted to share with you about St. Margaret, and then jumping to the Gospel, another thought is a reflection on the Lord's words, who says that if we ask in His name,

[02:06] we shall receive. So I just wanted to share a story about that with you that kind of helps to illustrate, I think, how we are to intend these words. Our Lord, again, here and in other places, assures us when we pray in His name, we receive what we pray for. The key is to understand what does it mean to pray in His name? This example comes to mind from the life of a friar. So one time in one of our friaries, a donor wanted to donate us some pizza. It's a funny example, but I don't know, in my mind it illustrates somewhat well what

[02:42] it means to pray in Jesus' name. So this benefactor wants to get his pizza, he buys his pizza, he orders it in his name, and we have to simply go and pick it up at the, I think it was a Pizza Hut. I was the one that had to go and pick it up. All I knew was that I was supposed to go at a certain hour to this Pizza Hut, say the donor's name, and receive what he had given us. I didn't know what kind of pizza it was, I didn't know what toppings he ordered, I just had to say his name. And I did that, and I picked up the pizza, and it was awesome, it was great.

[03:17] And it was a surprise, but again, it exceeded our expectations. And similarly, obviously in a much more elevated way, to pray in Jesus' name means to show up before the Father, say the name of Jesus, and say, "I am here to pick up what Jesus wants to give me." "I am here to pick up what Christ has obtained for me." I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I want it, and I know it's going to exceed my expectations.

[03:48] That way we are sure to receive it, and it's sure to be awesome. We can be wrong about what we want, whether it's good for us or not, Jesus can't be wrong. So this pizza example is an illustration of what it means to pray in Jesus' name. If we utter with confidence, if we can really, with confidence, ask for whatever it is that Jesus asks for, that Jesus wants for us, then our prayer has really reached perfection. If we want only what Jesus wants, and we're going to take it no matter what it is, and

[04:21] if we don't want what Jesus doesn't want, and we're not going to insist on it, then our prayer has reached perfection. When we pray in His name this way, there's a divine promise, we will get what we ask for. If we pray in our own name, there is no divine promise. We will not necessarily get what we ask for, because it's not necessarily the best thing. So these are just the two thoughts I wanted to share with you this morning, hopefully both useful for the spiritual life.

[04:52] Praised be Jesus and Mary. Now and forever. Amen.