Your Love is Better than Life (Ps 63:3)

 (Text of Fr. Andrew’s Homily for July 30, 2017)

 

I find in today’s readings a powerful message: how much better are the things of God than even the most desirable and costly of earthly things. These readings are a reminder that our truth, our happiness and fulfilment as human beings can be found nowhere else but in God. Let me comment briefly on each of the readings.

 

In the first reading, in a dream, God asked King Solomon what gift he’d like to receive. King Solomon chose an understanding mind for governing the people. Solomon preferred God’s wisdom to all else in the world. He could have asked God for many other gifts. King Solomon’s request for wisdom pleased God. "Because you have asked for this—not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right— I do as you requested.” (1 Kg 3:7-12) The text continues with a surprising twist: “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." (1 Kg 3:13-14).

 

King Solomon had requested only what was essential for doing his job well, and yet all other riches were given to him in addition. Is this not what the Lord promises all of us when He says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all the rest will be added on to you.” (Matthew 6:33) How happy we would be, if we paid heed to the Word of God! In another psalm the Lord cries out, “O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes… I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." (Psalm 80:13-16)

 

In the Responsorial Psalm we heard the same message: “The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces… Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my delight. For I love your command more than gold, however fine” (Psalm 119). It is not only that he prefers the Commandments to gold and silver, he even finds delight in the commandments. It is out of his delight that the psalmist fulfils God’s commands: “Wonderful are your decrees; therefore I observe them.” The psalmist finds such a beautiful joy in the things of God that he prefers obeying the Commandments to everything else on earth.

 

Have you ever felt such joy? Oh, yes, you probably have… And, having felt it, you probably found that, at those times, the Commandments became easy to fulfill. This is what happens when God fires our hearts with His love. This is what God did at Pentecost with His apostles: on fire with His Love, they didn’t care about anything else. They even appeared to be intoxicated, such was the ecstasy of their excitement about preaching the Good News. Maybe you felt excited like that when you made your First Communion, or perhaps you felt it while making a retreat, or maybe during a homily, or maybe as you prayed the Rosary. It might have been when you faced a very difficult moment in your life, or maybe it happened in a very beautiful moment… It was perhaps when you felt that God was calling you to something special… Maybe you felt that God was so present to you, maybe you felt His love so powerfully, that you could have given your life for Him.

 

Maybe such deep joy has happened to you more than once--maybe it happens very often to some of you… The Lord is not stingy with His graces: if we strive continually to do His will, and we persevere in that no matter what, God will undoubtedly help us with His consolations.

 

In the Gospel (cf. Matthew 13:44-46), we hear of a man who found hidden treasure after much work. The treasure had been buried in a field. The guy who was excavating in that field had not been expecting to find such reward for his labours. The same unexpected rewards can appear in our lives, even in difficult moments. That is why St. Paul reminds us that “all things”, even bad things, “work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rm 8:28). Behind certain sufferings are hidden the greatest joys of life. But we have to keep excavating, persevering in doing our job. God loves surprises, and He has a beautiful surprise for each one of us. “And those he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified” (Rm 8:30). For a little bit of work for the Boss, not only will we be paid, but we will inherit His own house, in Heaven. Through the Cross, to the Light!

 

The supreme treasure, the Kingdom of God, is so beautiful, so fulfilling that the person who finds it hides it again, “and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” The man is so sure that he is not losing anything, that he gives up everything else. He will get everything back and will have even more, so he just goes and sells everything. Some people may think that he is crazy, but he doesn’t care. “Afterwards, they will see…” The Lord is trying to show us that the Kingdom of God merits giving up not just a few things, but everything we have. It’s worth it because, in giving up everything, we will not lose anything and we will have even more.

Finally, this same message is found in the parable of the pearl of great price. Here there is a difference from the parable of the treasure in the field: the guy excavating was not expecting to find a treasure. In the parable of the pearl, the merchant is already “searching for fine pearls” just as we human beings are always searching for happiness here and there, in the things of the world. But when the merchant “finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” He finds what he was looking for, but now there is a difference. He probably already had some pearls, and knew perfectly well all about the value of pearls--their qualities, etc. The single pearl he finds is unique, not like any other pearl he has ever found previously. He knows that this particular pearl is actually a pearl, but he does not understand how this one can be so beautiful; so he sells everything and buys it. He had never thought that a pearl could be like that, it had never entered his mind. He could not have imagined it.

 

This is the Kingdom of God, this is the happiness that God promises. St. Paul says, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor entered the heart of man, is what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Co 2:9). And St. Augustine explains: “No eye has seen, because it has no colour; nor ear heard, because it has no sound; nor entered the heart of man, because it is the heart of man that will enter into this ocean of delight, as it is written ‘Enter into the joy of your Master!’[1] ” (St. Augustine, Letter to Proba).

 

May we always strive for these blessings, may we always strive for the only happiness that makes life worth living, and follow the path that merits an eternal joy in the Kingdom of Heaven. May we have the courage to sell everything we need to sell because, in the end, we do not lose anything when we follow Jesus.

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[1] Cf. Matthew 25:23.