“See, Padre,” she said, holding up one of these lists, “it says that ‘in that day’ whatever we ask of him will be given to us. Well, ‘that day’ means when we have washed our window-panes clean, and the light shines through so clear that we can ask in His name. It means when we have stopped saying that two and two are seven.”
“Which means,” Josè interpolated, “asking in his character.”
“Yes,” she replied, “for then we will be just like him. And then whatever we ask ‘believing’ will be given to us, for believing’ will then be ‘understanding,’ will it not? When we know––really know––that we have things, why––why, we have them, that’s all!”
She did not wait for his reply, but went on enthusiastically:
“You know, Padre, in order to be like him we have got to ‘seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness’––His right-thinking. Well, Jesus said the kingdom of God was within us. Of course it is, for it is all a question of right-thinking. When we think right, then our right thoughts will be––what you said––”
“Externalized,” he supplied.
“Yes. We will see them all around us, instead of seeing, as we do now, a lot of jumbled-up thoughts of good and evil which we call people and things. They will all be good then. And then will be the time when ‘God shall wipe away all tears.’ It is, as you say in English, ‘up to us’ to bring this about. It is not for God to do it at all. Don’t you see that He has already done His part? He has made everything, and ‘behold it was very good.’ Well, He doesn’t have to do it all over again, does He? No. But we have got to wash our windows clean and let in the light that comes from Him. That light comes from Him all the time, just as the beams come from the sun, without ever stopping. We never have to ask the sun to shine, do we? And neither do we have to ask God to be good to us, nor tell Him what we think He ought to do for us. We only have to know that He is good, to us and to everything, all the time.”
“Yes, chiquita, we must be truly baptised.”
“That is what it means to be baptised, Padre––just washing our window-panes so clean that the light will come in.”