Scott Hahn with David Scott
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)
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
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.
Saint Thomas Aquinas
Homily on the Creed
It is logical that the aim of all our desires, that is to say, eternal life, should be mentioned at the end of everything that has been given us to believe in the Creed with the words: “Eternal life. Amen.”… In eternal life, there is the union of man with God…, perfect praise…, and the perfect satisfaction of our desires, for there, every blessed person will possess even more than what he desired and hoped for. In this life, no one can fulfill his desire; nothing created can ever satisfy the human being’s desire. God alone satisfies, and that infinitely. That is why we only come to rest in God, as Saint Augustine says: “You have made us for yourself, Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”
Since in the homeland, the saints will possess God perfectly, it is obvious that not only their desire will be satisfied, but that in addition it will overflow with glory. That is why the Lord said: “Come, share your master’s joy.” (Mt 25:21) And Saint Augustine said about that: “It is not all of joy that will enter into those who rejoice, but those who rejoice will enter entirely into joy.” In a Psalm we say: “I shall be satisfied when your glory is revealed,” (63:3), and in another one: “He will grant you your heart’s requests.” (Ps 37:4) … For if a person desires delights, that is where supreme and perfect delight will be found, for it will consist in the sovereign good, which is God himself: “Delights at your right hand forever.” (Ps 16:11)
Pope Francis
Angelus Address, July 31, 2017
On Parables of Hidden Treasure & the Precious Pearl
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
Jesus’ parabolic discourse, which groups seven parables in the 13th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, ends with the three similar ones of today: the hidden treasure (v. 44), the precious pearl (v. 45-46) and the fishing net (v. 47-48). I pause on the first two, which stress the protagonists’ decision to sell all to obtain what they have discovered. In the first case it is a farmer who by chance encounters a hidden treasure in the field where he is working. The field not being his property, he must acquire it if he wants to possess the treasure: so he decides to risk all his wealth so as not to lose that truly exceptional occasion. In the second case we find a merchant of precious pearls; he, as an expert connoisseur, has singled out a pearl of great value. He also decides to stake everything on that pearl, to the point of selling all the others.
These similarities make evident two characteristics regarding the possession of the Kingdom of God: search and sacrifice. It is true that the Kingdom of God is offered to all – it is a gift, it is a present, it is grace — however, it is not made available on a silver plate; it requires dynamism: one has to search, walk, get going. The attitude of search is the essential condition to find; it is necessary that the heart burn with the desire to reach the precious good, namely, the Kingdom of God that makes itself present in the person of Jesus. He is the hidden treasure; He is the pearl of great value. He is the fundamental discovery, who can give a decisive turn to our life, filling it with meaning.
In face of the unexpected discovery, both the farmer as well as the merchant realize they have before them a unique occasion that they must not miss. Therefore, they sell all that they possess. The assessment of the inestimable value of the treasure, leads to a decision that also implies sacrifice, detachment and renunciations. When the treasure and the pearl were discovered, when, that is, we have found the Lord, this discovery must not be left sterile, but we must sacrifice for it every thing else. It is not about showing contempt for the rest but of subordinating it to Jesus, putting Him in the first place – grace in the first place. Christ’s disciple is not one who has deprived himself of something that is essential: he is one who has found much more: he has found the full joy that only the Lord can give. It is the evangelical joy of the cured sick, of the forgiven sinners, of the thief for whom the door of Paradise opens.
The joy of the Gospel fills the heart and whole life of those that encounter Jesus. Those who let themselves be saved by Him are freed from sin, from sadness, from interior emptiness, from isolation. Joy is ever born and reborn with Jesus Christ (Cf. Evangelii Gaudium, n 1). Today we are exhorted to contemplate the joy of the farmer and of the merchant of the parables. It is the joy of every one of us when we discover the closeness and consoling presence of Jesus in our life — a presence that transforms the heart and opens us to the needs and the reception of brothers, especially the weakest.
Through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, we pray so that each one of us is able to witness, with daily words and gestures, the joy of having found the treasure of the Kingdom of God, namely, the love the Father has given us through Jesus.
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Virginia M. Forrester] ***After the Angelus
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Observed today is the World Day against the Trafficking in Persons, promoted by the United Nations.
Today is the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, sponsored by the United Nations. Each year, thousands of men, women and children are innocent victims of sexual and organ trafficking, and it seems we are so accustomed to seeing it as a normal thing. This is ugly, it is cruel, it is criminal! I would like to draw on everyone’s commitment to make this aberrant plague, a modern form of slavery, adequately countered. Let us pray together to the Virgin Mary to support the victims of trafficking and to convert the hearts of traffickers.
Hail Mary . . .
I now greet all the pilgrims from Italy and from different countries, in particular the Murialdine Sisters of Saint Joseph, the Novices of the Sisters of Mary Help of Christians, the ministers of various Italian parishes, and the Italian Club of Women’s Hockey of Buenos Aires.
I wish all a good Sunday and, please, do not forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and goodbye!
[Original text: Italian] [Translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
