Mother of God of the Sun,
Russian, 19th c.
(Museum of Biblical Art)

Readings:
1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130
Romans 8:28-30
Matthew 13:44-52

Chants

What is your new life in Christ worth to you?

Do you love His words more than gold and silver, as we sing in today’s Psalm? Would you, like the characters in the Gospel this week, sell all that you have in order to possess the kingdom He promises to us?

If God were to grant any wish, would you follow Solomon’s example in the First Reading—asking not for a long life or riches, but for wisdom to know God’s ways and to desire His will?

The background for this Sunday’s Gospel, as it has been for the past several weeks, is the rejection of Jesus’ preaching by Israel. The kingdom of heaven has come into their midst, yet many cannot see that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises, a gift of divine compassion given that they—and we, too,—might live.

We too must ever discover the kingdom anew, to find it as a treasure—a pearl of great price. By comparison with the kingdom, we must count all else as rubbish (see Philippians 3:8).

And we must be willing to give up all that we have—all our priorities and plans—in order to gain it.

Jesus’ Gospel discloses what Paul, in this week’s Epistle, calls the purpose of God’s plan (see Ephesians 1:4). That purpose is that Jesus be the firstborn of many brothers.

His words give understanding to the simple, the childlike. As Solomon does in this week’s reading, we must humble ourselves before God, giving ourselves to His service. Let our prayer be for an understanding heart, one that desires only to do His will.

We are called to love God, to delight in His law, and to forsake every false way. And we are to conform ourselves daily ever more closely to the image of His Son.

If we do this, we can approach His altar as a pleasing sacrifice, confident that all things work for the good—that we whom He has justified, will also one day be glorified.

________________

Origen (c.185-253)
from Commentary on St Matthew's Gospel,

To the seeker after fine pearls may be applied the words: "Seek and you will find," and, "Everyone who seeks will find" (Mt 7,7-8). If you ask what is to be sought, and what will be found by everyone who seeks for it, I say with all confidence: pearls - especially that pearl which will be acquired by those who give their all, who sacrifice everything for it, the pearl Paul meant when he said: "I have accepted the loss of everything in order to gain Christ," (Phil 3,8). "Everything" means beautiful pearls; "to gain Christ" refers to the one pearl of great price.

Admittedly, a lamp is precious to people in darkness, and they need it until sunrise. Precious too was the radiance on the face of Moses (2Cor 3,7) - and I believe on the faces of the other prophets also. It was a sight of beauty leading us to the point of being able to see the glory of Christ, to whom the Father bore witness in the words: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," (Mt 3,17). But "compared with this surpassing glory, what formerly was glorious now seems to have no glory at all," (2Cor 3,10). We need at first a glory destined to be outshone by an "all-surpassing glory", just as we need the partial knowledge which "will be superseded when that which is perfect has come," (1Cor 13,9f.).

Thus everyone beginning to live a spiritual life and "growing toward maturity," (Heb 6,1) needs tutors, guardians, and trustees until the "fullness of time" (Gal 4,4) arrives for him, so that after all this, he... may on his emancipation receive his patrimony. This patrimony is the pearl of great price, and "the coming of what is perfect to supersede what is imperfect" (1Cor 13,10) when, after acquiring the forms of knowledge, if we may call them so, which are inferior to knowledge of Christ, one becomes able to understand "the supreme value of knowing Christ," (Phil 3,8). Yet many do not understand the beauty of the many pearls of the Law and of "the partial knowledge" scattered through all the prophets; they wrongly think that, without having fully understood the Law and the prophets, they can find the one pearl of great price...: the full comprehension of the gospel and the complete understanding of the acts and words of Christ Jesus.

Pope Benedict XVI
from Angelus Address, July 24, 2011

Today, in the liturgy, the Old Testament Reading presents to us the figure of King Solomon, the son and successor of David. It presents him at the beginning of his reign, when he was still very young. Solomon inherited a very demanding task and the responsibility that lay heavily on his shoulders was great for a young king. He first of all offered God a solemn sacrifice, "a thousand burnt offerings", as the Bible says.

Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and promised to grant him what he asked in prayer. And here we see the greatness of Solomon's soul. He did not ask for a long life, nor wealth, nor the elimination of his enemies; instead he said to the Lord: "Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong" (1 Kings 3:9). And the Lord heard him, so that Solomon became famous throughout the world for his wisdom and his right judgements.

Therefore he prayed God to grant him "an understanding heart". What do these words mean? We know that the "heart" in the Bible does not only indicate a part of the body, but also the centre of the person, the seat of his intentions and opinions. We might say: the conscience. Thus an "understanding heart" means a conscience that knows how to listen, that is sensitive to the voice of truth and for this reason can discern right from wrong.

In Solomon's case, the request was motivated by the responsibility of leading a nation, Israel, the people whom God chose to show the world his plan of salvation. The King of Israel, therefore, had to try always to be in tune with God, listening to his word, in order to guide the people on the paths of the Lord, the path of justice and of peace.

However, Solomon's example is valid for every person. Each one of us has a conscience so as to be, in a certain way, "king", that is, to exercise the great human dignity of acting in accordance with an upright conscience, doing what is right and avoiding wrong.

The moral conscience presupposes the ability to hear the voice of truth and to be docile to its indications. People who are called to the task of government naturally have a further responsibility and, therefore — as Solomon teaches — are in even greater need of God's help. Yet each one has his own part to play, in the concrete situation in which he finds himself. An erroneous mentality suggests to us that we ask God for favourable things or conditions; in fact, the true quality of our life and of social life depends on the upright conscience of each one, on the capacity of one and all to recognize right, separating it from wrong and seeking patiently to put it into practice, thereby contributing to justice and to peace.

Let us ask the Virgin Mary, Seat of Wisdom, for help in this. Her "heart" was perfectly docile to the Lord's will. Even though she was a humble and simple person, Mary was a queen in God's eyes, and we venerate her as such. May the Blessed Virgin help us to form in ourselves, with God's grace, a conscience ever open to the truth and sensitive to justice, to serve the Kingdom of God.