At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said, “O Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered or counted for multitude. Give thy servant therefore an understanding mind to govern thy people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this thy great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.”
EXPLANATION: Solomon succeeded David as King in Jerusalem in the year 970 B.C. His mother Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan persuaded the aged David to appoint him rather than his elder brother, Adonijah. During his 38 years on the throne, Solomon built the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem and a beautiful palace for himself. He developed friendly relations with the neighboring pagan nations; and trade and commerce flourished under his wise direction. Later Jewish traditions credited him with a wisdom which surpassed that of any other sage of any land. While we can perhaps allow for some exaggeration caused by national pride here, the verses we have just read rightly give the credit to God for whatever wisdom Solomon possessed. But it must not be forgotten either that Solomon in his humility asked God for this so that he might govern wisely, rather than for any material or political gain for himself.
At Gibeon: Gibeon, most probably the present-day Nebi Samivil, six miles northwest of Jerusalem, was an Israelite place of worship ever since the days of the Judges (1 Sm. 7:5). The Tent of the Meeting and the altar of sacrifice were kept there in David’s time (1 Ch. 16:39, 21:39), so it was a legitimate place of worship until the temple was built.
in a dream by night: God often made use of dreams to communicate with his chosen ones (Gn. 20:3, 28:12; Jgs. 7:13).
Ask . . . give you: In such a dream he gave Solomon a choice of gifts.
Solomon said: The young king realizes how inexperienced he is in governing a kingdom.
a people . . . numbers: The population of Israel at the time is reckoned at about 800,000, but to Solomon and to his contemporaries this number was a huge multitude.
govern the people: He seeks from God “an understanding mind,” so that he could always do what was just and best for his subjects.
Because . . . this: The Lord is pleased that Solomon thought of the good of his subjects rather than any personal benefit like long life, or riches, or victory over his enemies, and therefore:
I now . . . your word: God will not only grant him wisdom to govern his people, but will make him the wisest man that ever lived or ever will live. The dream, of course, lost nothing in its telling by Solomon, nor in the retelling much later by historians.
APPLICATION: What particular gift would each one of us ask of God if he spoke to us in a dream tonight and gave us our choice? There are so many pressing needs which we will have at the moment. Many would ask for badly needed health for themselves or for some close relatives. Others would ask for financial help, just to pay off debts and keep the family in comfort, not riches but just enough. Others would wish to be spared to their family for many long years. Some, not many, would ask for the virtue of temperance for themselves, while many would want that virtue for their husbands or sons.
But those who would ask for the gift of true wisdom to govern their earthly lives according to justice and charity would, I fear, be a small percentage. And yet that is the only gift that has eternal value. It is even greater than the gift Solomon asked for and got. He wanted the wisdom to govern others, but he failed pretty badly in governing his own personal life. The really wise man wants to make a success of his own personal life, but that can only be done by regulating his living according to the wisdom God has enshrined in his revelation to us.
If we got all the other gifts mentioned above—a healthy, long life for ourselves and all in the family, a life of comfort free from all financial cares, a life of peace and temperance in the home, with all the other earthly blessings that we think we need thrown in, would the ending of our life-story be necessarily a happy one?
We all like a story to end happily. We do not mind how many scrapes and tight shaves our hero has during the course of the story, but we want him to come out a success in the end. Surely, there is no story of greater interest, or of greater importance to us, than our own life-story, and there can be no story whose happy ending could be more desirable. There is only one happy ending for the story of our life on earth, and it is the attainment of heaven when we die.
If we lived on earth for 200 years, if we never had an ache or pain in that time, if we had all the riches of this world, and all the comforts imaginable which those riches could buy for us, and a life of perpetual peace and plenty, but if we failed to reach heaven what a sad and irreparable conclusion our life story would have!
Wisdom is the gift we all need—wisdom greater than that of Solomon—the wisdom to govern and direct our own lives according to God’s laws. God will not refuse this gift if we ask for it. And having got it we must use it. We are surrounded on all sides by worldly wisdom—the opposite of what we need. Today, more than ever perhaps, the stress is on the present—what we can get out of this life. The future life is either denied or ignored. A future there is, and try to forget it as we may, it is drawing nearer daily to each one of us. On the entrance gates of the city cemetery of Rome this truthful inscription stands out in its awful truth: “Hodie mihi cras tibe”— “today my fate is decided, tomorrow yours.” We can decide our fate today before it is too late. Will we?
We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
EXPLANATION: In the readings from St. Paul, which you have heard during the past seven Sundays, the Apostle has been telling the Roman converts to Christianity how vastly superior to the Jewish religion is their Christian religion. The former was only a preparation for the coming of Christ. Now that Christ has come, the preparatory stage has ended. The shadow fades before the reality. The Mosaic Law did not, and could not, give eternal life. Christ’s death and resurrection alone could and did.
Christians, therefore, are sure of that eternal life, if they remain faithful to their vocation. Today’s three verses tell us that God is doing his part (and will continue to do it), to bring all who accept Christ to glory, that is, to eternal happiness when they end their earthly life.
in everything . . . good: All God’s plans for the human race are for the happiness and perfection of men—as Paul says, “in everything God works for good.” He created them and gave them gifts which made them superior to all other earthly creatures, so that they would have eternal life. He made the attainment of that eternal life possible for them, through the Incarnation, which made them brothers of Christ, adopted sons of God.
those who love him: Man must do his part. He has a free will and must show his appreciation of all that God has done for him by thanking God and loving him.
who are called: All men are “called,” have received the invitation, to eternal life (and the means of attaining it), but they must love God in order to reach that happy end.
those . . . foreknew: God is eternal, there is no past or future to him. A million years ago, he saw us as we are now and as we will be at the end of our life. He knows from eternity those who will love him and those who will not, but this foreknowledge does not mean any restriction on their freedom of action. God wills that all men should have eternal happiness but, because men are free agents, he cannot make them will to earn that eternal happiness.
conformed . . . his son: The Son of God became man so that we could become sons of God. Through his Incarnation, Christ elevated human nature to the status of adopted sonship with God. Christ in his human nature is the “first-born,” the first to rise from the dead and enter into eternal happiness. All those who accept him and live accordingly will follow him into that eternal happiness—they will become, as it were, other Christs.
Those he predestined: Those he forsaw as explained above.
called . . . glorified: His will was that all men should make proper use of the gifts he gave them, and the necessary means were available to all. But in his eternal knowledge he saw those who would use their gifts and accept his aid, and who would therefore follow Christ in this life and die in his peace and love “justified”, so reaching eternal glory.
APPLICATION: St. Augustine says, “God created us without our consent or cooperation but he will not (and cannot) save us without our cooperation.” This is clear from what St. Paul tells us today. God has done, and continues to do, everything that is necessary to bring us to heaven when we die. However, unless we cooperate and do our part, heaven will not be our future abode.
This should make each one of us stop and think! Are we on the right road? Are we truly followers of Christ? Do we love God? Are our prevailing ambitions worldly or other-worldly? We have to take an interest in the affairs of this world but do all our interests end there? Do the Ten Commandments of God always govern and direct our conduct, or are they often trampled on in our mad rush for some temporal pleasure or gain?
These are questions every Christian should put to himself and honestly answer. We are living in an era which is daily growing more worldly and more anti-God and anti-Christian. On all sides of us we have bad example, a strong-rushing current of worldliness and immorality, a current difficult to avoid or swim against. But avoid it we must if we really have our real and eternal welfare at heart. What is more, if we love our fellow man as our Christian faith obliges us to do, we must do all in our power to lead them out of that fatal current and bring them to safety with us. We must be lifeguards.
There is a future life, revelation tells us, and our reasoning demands it. That future life will be one of eternal happiness for those who strive to love God in this life, and eternal unhappiness for those who refuse to do this. Ask yourself this question: “If I were to die tonight, to which class would I like to belong?” Tonight may not be the night of our departure from this life, but that departure is nearer to us than any of us think, and the state of our conscience at the moment of our death may depend on the resolutions we make today.
Nobody, not even God himself, can give us eternal life. We must earn it for ourselves. Our Christian faith tells us how.
Jesus said to the crowds, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
“Have you understood all this?” They said to him, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
EXPLANATION: In this chapter, St. Matthew has a collection of seven parables (“earthly stories with heavenly meanings”) spoken by Our Lord, probably on different occasions. Teaching through parables was a method commonly practiced by the Jewish rabbis of that time. In the three parables read today, the first two describe the kingdom of heaven as worth more than all the treasures of this earth. The third teaches that accepting Christ or calling him “Lord, Lord,” will not merit heaven. “Doing the will of his Father,” is necessary for salvation.
treasure . . . field: In a country frequently overrun by invaders it was not unusual for people to bury their gold and other precious possessions in tombs, in caves or in the fields when an invader was approaching. It often happened that the owner was killed or disappeared and all knowledge of the hidden treasure disappeared with him. The Dead Sea Scrolls recently found in caves at Qumran were hidden there over 2,000 years ago.
hid it: It is evident that the discoverer was working in another man’s field when he found the treasure. To gain legal possession he buys the field from the other. It is also clear that the owner of the field did not own the treasure, or he would not have sold the field. Whether he had more moral right to the treasure is another question, but all the material points of a parable are not set up by a teacher for praise or imitation. In favor of the discoverer is the fact that he did not take away the treasure secretly: instead he bought the field, evidently in order to get legal and honest possession of it.
sells . . . has: This is the lesson, all else that this man had he considered as nothing compared with this treasure. So likewise the kingdom of heaven—the following of Christ to heaven—is incomparably of greater value than all the riches, power and pleasures of this world.
merchant . . . search of pearls: In the previous example the discoverer came on the treasure accidentally, the next example the merchant is actually searching for a treasure. Perhaps the former represent the Gentiles who were not expecting or looking for Christ, while the Jews were, like this merchant, looking forward to his coming.
sold . . . had: Again the same appreciation of what had been found—it was worth more than all other possessions.
every scribe: Addressing the Apostles who tell him they have understood the lesson of his parables, he tells them they will be “scribes,” men of learning, who will have ancient (Old Testament) and modern (Christ’s) teaching to give to their hearers. This is exactly what the Apostles did.
APPLICATION: The lesson of these two parables is as true for us today as it was for those Palestinians to whom Christ spoke. All Christians are called on to imitate these two wise men, and surrender all their earthly possessions if necessary in order to gain eternal life. Does this “giving all” mean that we are all expected to abandon the world and take on the religious vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? There are many who do just this. But it is not the only way, nor the normal way, to purchase the eternal treasure. Heaven is within the reach of all, who follow the ordinary vocations of life and partake of this world’s joys and pleasures within the framework of God’s commandments, but never lose sight of the goal toward which they are moving.
Keeping within the framework of God’s commandments is the difficulty. We need not have a vow of obedience, but we must obey all legitimate authority. We may possess the goods of this world, but only such goods as we lawfully and justly acquire. Nor may we withhold all of these from a fellow man who is in need. We do not have to take a vow of chastity, but yet we must be chaste, we must use the gifts and the pleasure of sex only within the limits set down by God’s wise laws.
All of this is not easy for human nature. But we are not relying on weak human nature, we have within our reach in the Church all the spiritual and supernatural aids we need. Our twentieth century, it is true, is so engrossed in chasing after the earthly comforts and pleasures of the body, and so devoid of any spiritual or other-worldly outlook, that even those who know and believe that there is an eternity after death, find it hard to allow their faith and convictions to govern and direct their daily actions. Yet, the evil example of others will never justify our wrongdoing. The commandments of God are still binding, even though they are openly and flagrantly violated by individuals and whole nations today.
Remember this: we shall not be asked at the judgment, “What did your neighbor do?”, but “what did you do?” If we lose the pearl of great price in the eternity of happiness God has offered to us—it will not be the fault of others. The fault will be ours and ours only. We refuse to pay the price. We did not think it worth the “paltry all” which we possessed in this life.-a285
Those are some parables and the treasure finding within = wow :>)
couldn’t help think about a story i heard way back from a motivational-type speaker who proposed that in his path to losing weight and describing his efforts taken to do so, he proposed that most people tend to think we have to “pay the price” in order to accomplish a goal – apparently as he did too when he started his journey towards his goal …
he went on to recount the “pain” along his weight loss path and how he changed his routine, exercised more, ate better, etc and initially reasoned, “okay – gotta pay the price but focus on the reward…”
his account ends with him proposing that he was totally misguided and wrong …
in that once he started accomplishing his weight loss goals and felt the progress, he proposed new language / correction in that he said we should instead of saying “pay the price” – instead realize and say “we enjoy the price” …
in his case the success of enjoying “more health” was glorious but i digress …
cordially, chuck scott