Scripture Readings: First Book of Kings 3:5, 7-12; Saint Paul’s Letter to the Romans 8:28-30; Gospel According to Saint Matthew 13:44-52
As we all know, contemporary culture teaches us to seek the good life, at whatever the cost, literally. Happiness itself too often is put in terms of that which ultimately fades away: health, wealth, beauty, luxury, etc.
This doesn’t mean settling for inadequate food, shelter and clothing or despising our earthly existence, but to make material things the sum total of life is to miss the point of real life and happiness, to which God calls us.
In stark contract to hedonistic materialism, then, is the ideal put forth in the Scriptures today; namely, seeking spiritual wisdom, which cannot be bought with money, and acquiring God’s kingdom, which has no price tag, other than an attentive heart and a docile spirit, in order to really hear and put into practice God’s saving word.
King Solomon is praised in the first reading at Mass today for choosing something that will last, namely, wisdom, rather than fleeting things or earthly goods. Solomon stands as a model in the Hebrew Scriptures of “being on the right track,” as we might express it today.
Solomon is described as knowing what is really needed for life’s journey: an understanding heart, which God bestows. However, that doesn’t negate the importance of the choices we make in response to God’s action, put in terms of “right living,” doing good to others, rendering worship to the God of heaven and earth, setting one’s heart on spiritual rather than material riches.
As Christians we recognize Jesus as the bringer of the fullness of life, eternal life in heaven, of which even King Solomon did not have knowledge. Jesus offers to those who are willing to “prefer nothing whatever to Christ,” as our Holy Father Saint Benedict put it, borrowing a phrase from Saint Cyprian of Carthage (De orat. dom. 15).
The heart of the Christian message is the Good News that God has stooped down to us in order to raise us up to Him. No one is forced to accept this great gift, of course; otherwise it would not be a gift, but an imposition. To those who accept the gift there is a fundamental approach, the realization everything as “being on loan,” from the God who made us.
With this in mind, we realize we must render an account of our life to our Maker at the end of life’s journey. How have I spent my time and energy on earth, I will be asked? How have I treated others and even myself? Have I spent myself in loving service of others as Jesus taught, or made others the object of my desires. Have I put myself at the center of the universe, treading under foot all those in my path?
These are tough questions, but Jesus is very interested that we get the point of life, sooner than later!
Christ in his Church is at our side to walk us through.. In the Church we find the action of God’s grace working in our lives, offering rest for our weariness and spiritual food and drink for our hungry and thirsty hearts.
We gather regularly, then, at least each Sunday, and more often if possible, at God’s altar, to celebrate the Eucharist, to ponder the proper perspective Jesus came to reveal: that our hearts be totally set on the riches that cannot fade or be taken away, on the things that last into life eternal.
Who of us, though, can consistently choose for the things of God? We may go astray seeking that which is not of God and only eventually come to our senses about the really important values put before us.
May each of us be committed to the Good News Jesus boldly proclaimed in the Gospel, that the Kingdom of God should be zealously pursued like a treasure, or a pearl of great price.
Jesus indicates that we have the capacity and all that it takes, to possess the
indescribable riches of God’s Kingdom, which can never be taken from us.
“Come to the fountain of Life and drink the water that will quench your thirst,” we should hear the Lord saying to us.
With Saint Paul in the second reading at Mass today, we know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love God, who have been called to possess that which ultimately can satisfy.
May God help us to choose as wisely as Solomon of old!
Abbot Christian Leisy, OSB