17 OT A ~ 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 ~ "An Understanding Heart" ~ Rev. Benjamin Roberts, D. Min.

Sometimes I want a new way to pray.

Or sometimes I want another way to pray. And sometimes I do not really want to pray. And when I want something new or something more or something else, it seems that the scriptures for the celebration of the Mass have the answer. I search the Word, and I hear the voice of God. I search the Word and I hear the voices of God’s people. I search the Word and find the answer to the question that I did not even know that I was asking. I search the Word, and I find a prayer.

Give your servant, O Lord, an understanding heart.

This brief prayer of Solomon the King can easily find a home on our lips. Solomon does not ask for a long life. He does not ask for riches. He does not even ask for victory over his enemies. Essentially, the prayer that Solomon offers is not really a request for him. Solomon asks for a gift to be entrusted to him for the building up of the community. Solomon asks for an understanding heart that he might lead his people in justice and truth. He wants an understanding heart so that he can lead his people with understanding.

We want the gift of an understanding heart. Because the gift of an understanding heart lets us see the value and the values of the kingdom of heaven. We beg the Lord to give us that understanding heart so that we can recognize the treasure that has been found. We want to recognize that the true treasure is not found in earthly riches. The true treasure is not victory over our enemies. The true treasure is not even a long life in this world. The treasure, the true treasure, is not long life, but eternal life.

The Lord Jesus is the true treasure that has been found. The Lord Jesus is the pearl of great price. Our relationship with him is precious and of great value.  Our relationship with the Lord Jesus begins and continues and develops after a long search for it.  

But the search has not been ours. 

We are not the ones who have sought for the precious treasure. It is the Lord Jesus, sent from the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, who has been searching for us. The holy people of God, the Church, the bride of Christ, is the treasure that the Lord Jesus sought. We, the people of the Lord, members of his flock, are the pearl of great price for which Jesus Christ, Son of the Father and Son of the Blessed Virgin Mary, offered everything. We are the treasure that has been purchased, not with silver and gold, but with the blood of the spotless lamb who takes away the sins of the world. We are the treasure of the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus is our true treasure.

And here, at this altar, in the midst of this community, and through the prayer given to us by Christ and his Church, the understanding heart of Christ opens the treasure of heaven to you and to me. In the celebration of the Eucharist, God’s search for us meets our search for him. And here the Lord Jesus feeds us, and treasures us, and comforts us, and assures each of us of our place in his understanding heart.