Homilies | Father Nathan

Father Nathan | Homily

Today’s Readings for Mass During the Day:

First Reading — 1 KGS 3:5, 7-12

Responsorial Psalm — PS 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130

Lord, I love your commands.

Second Reading — ROM 8:28-30

Gospel Reading — MT 13:44-52 OR 13:44-46

“where your treasure is, there will be your hearts too”.

— Jesus

Wisdom

Wisdom is the most precious gift a person can have. It is a real treasure. Without it all other things are useless because we won’t know how to use them. On being told that he could have anything he wanted from God Solomon asked for the gift of wisdom. God was pleased with his request and granted to him.

However, this doesn’t mean that wisdom was handed to him on a plate so to speak. That does not and cannot happen. Wisdom is not acquired overnight. If acquired at all, it is acquired gradually and often painfully. It is the task of a lifetime.  Wisdom is like dew; it comes to us in tiny drops without our knowing it.

However, there can be an experience that enables us to take a giant step forward. Sometimes it takes some kind of a crisis to teach a person a little wisdom. Then the words of St. Paul came true, namely, that in his mercy God can make all things work for our benefit.

Once there was a teacher who desired to make progress in his career and climb the social ladder. He worked very hard. In fact, his work was his life. He put his best hour’s efforts into it. He had little time to appreciate his family, even less for the enjoyment of life. It was clear to everyone where his treasure was.

One day he had a heart attack. He was taken to hospital where he lay for days, drifting in and out of conscience, and not knowing whether he would live or die. During moments of lucidity, he saw these shadowy figures by his bedside. One day those figures came into focus and he immediately recognized them. They were his wife and children who visited him faithfully every day and spent hours at his bedside.

At that moment he saw where his true treasure lay-it lay in his family, his home, in the gift of life, and of course in God. He saw how foolish he had been up to now. And he prayed with his heart “Lord, give back my life, and I will be happy” And he resolved that if he got well, he would turn his priorities upside down.

He made a full recovery. The day he walked out of the hospital he was deliriously happy. Everything had been given back to him. Through that painful experience, he acquired much wisdom. Prior to this, he was completely focused on himself and his career. Now he decided to open himself to others and to work for them. And he was happier than he had ever been in his life.

All of us are searchers and treasure hunters in the sense that we are looking for happiness. The goal is legitimate, but it may be that we are looking in the wrong place Jesus said: “where your treasure is, there will be your hearts too”. So, if we want to know what our treasure is, all we have to do is ask ourselves where our hearts are? What is that we love? That we pursue with all our hearts? There lies our treasure…

Of course, we may try to have it both ways- to keep friends with God and with mammon. However, what we are looking for cannot be found in material things. Riches bring anxiety, wisdom brings peace of mind.

The wisdom we are talking about here is not the same as worldly wisdom. It is something deeper and very much more precious. It means knowing what is truly important in life. It means being able to see life from God’s point of view, and being able to live the way God wants us to live. If we don’t have that, then no matter how many possessions we have, or how successful we are, we will not be happy.

Wisdom is not the same thing as knowledge. Knowledge is something we have; wisdom is something we are. Unlike knowledge which is acquired through hard work, wisdom is a gift of God. Through the gift of God’s wisdom, God communicates to us the meaning of life and the grandeur of our destiny which is to be with God.

Wisdom is the pearl of great price. Once found no one can rob us of it. Amen.

Have a Blessed Week,

Fr. Nathan