The Friend at Midnight

The Gospel at St. Luke 11:5-13 provides Jesus' parable about how the Holy Sacrament is delivered to the people, if you note the details.  There are three loaves (the Triune God is in the host), there is a friend of a friend (the celebrant gives to the people what he receives), the friend has nothing to give (the celebrant contributes nothing of his own), it is at midnight (behold, now is the day of salvation; the cry goes out at midnight, etc.), and the giver speaks of his children in bed at midnight (the importunate crying of the faithful for mercy will at length raise the dead at the last.  Most importantly, the admonition, "Ask, seek, knock" is something of a rubric, which gives the celebrant the instruction to use the Our Father (immediately prior, in this chapter) to do the asking, seeking, and knocking, by which the Father will "give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him."  The sermon.