Seventeenth Sunday: Year A in Ordinary Time
1 Kings 3:5, 7–12; Rom 8:28–30 Matthew 11:25; Mat 13:44–52
Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves this very important question: What is the greatest treasure we can ask the Lord to give us? Are we ready to give up everything which we have in order to attain the treasure of greatest value?
Two of the parables in today’s Gospel, the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Parable of the Pearl with Greatest Value stress that the attainment of the kingdom of God surpasses all other possessions we may have in this world. Knowing and understanding the value of attaining the kingdom of God requires us to abandon everything that does not help us to receive that gift.
In the First reading, King Solomon was asked by the Lord in a dream to ask God what he willed and God would give him. If we were to put ourselves in Solomon’s shoes, what would we have asked for? Solomon did not ask for long life nor riches, nor the death of his enemies, but for the gift of wisdom, to discern judgment. The wisdom to discern between good and evil. He asked for the wisdom which is morally sound. This wisdom is the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Greatest Value. This is the wisdom every child of God needs to pray for and ask from God.
Kings, heads of state, religious leaders, captains of industry, members of parliament and all those who hold positions of authority in society need to learn from King Solomon. Today we notice that many people who aspire for highest positions in society are not guided by the Wisdom of God but by their own way of looking at the world. Most do so in order to glorify themselves and to amass wealth regardless of whether it is morally just or not.
King Solomon asked for the gift of Wisdom that would enable him to govern well the people of God. St John Paul II, commenting on Wisdom 9 reminds us that without the gift of wisdom “we lack a guide, as if we were without a polar star to direct us in the moral choices of life” (Address January 29, 2003). Without the gift of wisdom, leaders of the world find themselves leading their citizens guided by their own selfish whims. John Paul II further states that when we ask for God’s wisdom, we are in fact asking God to allow us to participate in his mind. To participate in the mind of him who created human beings in his own image.
Once all leaders have this mind then, they can find joy in respecting the dignity of every human person. King Solomon understood that the people whom he led and governed were God’s chosen ones. They belonged to God. They were created by God. Hence, they needed to be treated in the way God their Creator intended them to be treated.
Guided by the wisdom that comes from God, those who hold positions of power can find joy in sharing the earth’s resources with the people they lead. Enlightened by the wisdom of God, world leaders need not choose to annihilate their enemies but rather ask God to grant them the gift of wisdom that enables them to negotiate peace and seek reconciliation rather than to celebrate the death of their enemies.
In our families, let parents pray for the gift of wisdom that enables them to raise their families on the path that leads them to God. We pray for our youth that they may be granted the wisdom to discern between what gives them life and what destroys that gift.
May our Mother Mary, Seat of Wisdom, pray for us.