What are our intentions?

How often do we ask for something from someone, and our requests and petitions go unheard, like the request of the Pharisees and scribes in today’s Gospel? Why is this so? Didn’t Jesus want to perform a miracle, or couldn’t he? Indeed, this is not why Jesus refused their request.

Jesus knew their intention. He knew that they had come to tempt him: “They tempted him by asking him for a sign from heaven!” (Mk 8:11)

With what intentions do we go to other people? Do our intentions and motives even matter? They certainly are. Our actions and their value before God depend on our intentions. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states: “Through pure intention, which consists in focusing on one’s true goal, we strive to find and fulfill God’s will in all things.” (CCC 2520). We will step back and look at it more closely from this definition. The pure intention could be defined as the motive that leads us to do something good. A reason that is not for my benefit but seeks the good of the one I will help.

In other words: looking at the problem of others through their eyes. To see not oneself but one’s neighbor. Think not of the good of self, but of the brother or sister who needs a helping hand. To focus on the right goal is to put God first in your life. God is to be number one. To seek God’s will and to do it is the duty of each one of us.
Let us open ourselves to God. Let us let God into our lives and not fear Him. With him, we can do all things. We need to trust him and let him lead us. He will show us the way and direct us. We will purify our intentions with him and begin to know his will.

A great example of good seeking is the Old Testament, King Solomon. Young Solomon had many desires: wealth, military power, fame, prosperity, long life, happiness… But when God asked him for one thing – when He asked him for his highest good, he wished for wisdom from above. Solomon rightly reasoned that it was just such a gift that would bring him the fulfillment of all his other desires. And God thus answered his choice: “Because thou hast desired this thing, and hast not desired long age, nor hast desired riches, nor hast desired the life of thine enemies, but hast desired to understand, that thou mayest understand the law, I will do to thee according to thy desire: Behold, I will give thee a wise heart and understanding; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither shall there be any like thee after thee. But I will also give thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and glory so that there shall be none like thee among kings all thy days.” (1 Kings 3:11-13).

Let us examine our intentions; God is with us and helps us.