Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
1 Kings 3,5. 7-12; Rom 8,28-30; Mt 12, 44-52
Solomon's noble request
For King Solomon, as we read in the First Reading, this was clear. He could have asked for many things, but instead asks simply for wisdom. He does not ask for wisdom so that then, with his newly acquired wisdom he will know where to invest his money and how best to impose taxes on his people to become richer. Neither does he ask for wisdom in order to strategise better and thus become more powerful against his enemies and more popular with his people. To do so would be to instrumentalize wisdom for his own needs. Instead, he asks for wisdom simply to serve God and God's people better. In other words, he does not ask for wisdom for his own gain but only to serve others and for the Glory of God.
Desiring nothing but God
Therefore, from King Solomon we learn something of crucial importance: that I must seek my ultimate desire for nothing but for its own sake. If I am a teacher, I might pray, for example, to become a good and dedicated teacher. That is a wonderful thing to ask for. However, my reasons for doing so may be misplaced. I might want to be a good and dedicated teacher because I want to be loved by my students, or because I want to convince myself that it was worthwhile studying for all these years, or to gain affirmation for myself. It is not that these wishes are not good, but they cannot be our ultimate desire. Even if we manage to gain all the above: be loved by our students, realise that our long hours of studying were indeed worthwhile, even if I gain affirmation for myself as a teacher, my ultimate desire would still not be exhausted because I am seeking myself and not God and being of service to those entrusted to my care.
Instrumentalising God
Sometimes this can also happen in our spiritual life. I might wish to be more faithful in my prayer life, to have a stronger relationship with Christ. However when I dig deeper, I might discover that I wish for these things because I want the "good feeling" that prayer might bring, or achieve a sense of peace in my heart. When I discover this, I realise that my desires are not well-aligned, and that I am instrumentalising God. When I truly desire God, I pray not to gain something, but just to be with God, whether I get the good feeling or not. When I truly desire God, I want to be reconciled with God and with others not because I miss the peace in my heart but simply because I want to be with God, irrespective of whether I gain peace in my heart or not.
This might be a bit hard to understand in today's world where we are used to commodifying and instrumentalising everything. Today's society says, "if you gain nothing from it, discard it." There is a verse from the book of the Prophet Habakkuk (Hab 3, 17-18) which I really like. We pray it on Fridays in our Liturgy of the Hours and it goes something like this:
For though the fig tree does not blossom,
and no fruit appears on the vine,
though the yield of the olive fails,
and the terraces produce no nourishment,
though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there is no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my saving God.
Re-valuation of (all) values
There are some striking characteristics of the two persons mentioned in today's Gospel and which are worth pondering about. The first one, who found the treasure in the field was not expecting to find the treasure - he was not even looking for it. However he did recognize it as a treasure and was therefore sensitive and alert to it. We notice how he reconfigures his priorities: he sells all that is important to him in order to get hold of his treasure.
The merchant of the pearls on the other hand was looking for precious pearls. He must have seen many cheap ones and some good ones as well. However, like the other man, he recognises the precious pearl. Like him, he sells all he has in order to obtain it. He too reconfigures his priorities.
What strikes me is that both men are going on their daily lives; they are indeed, immersed in their dailiness, and there is where they find the Kingdom of God, there is where their heart is set and is longing for. The Kingdom of God, which is the object of our deepest desire breaks into the world whether the man who bought the field or the merchant of pearls or you and I are oblivious to God's hidden grace or not, whether they are actively seeking it or not. We just have to be ready to recognize it and to reconfigure our priorities.
God is on our side
Paul reminds us that God is on our side in this one as well. Even if we do not know how to pray for what we are desiring, even if we find that we are too weak or afraid to reconfigure our values, our priorities in life, God will be on our side just the same. Paul (Rm 8, 28) says,
We know that all things will work for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
King Solomon asked for wisdom,
Augustine prayed for chastity only to realise that his heart, our heart rests not until it rests in God,
Ignatius of Loyola offered all his memory, intellect and will to God and desired nothing back but God's love and grace
St John Bosco asked for souls and nothing more.
And you and I, what are our deepest desires? What are we going to ask for?
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