Welcome to Finding God in Our Hearts. The following production, Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a weekly program of deep spiritual insight on Scripture, revealing the indwelling presence of God. We appreciate your listenership and if you find this program valuable, please subscribe and share with your friends. Share this program is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you. Make your donation@pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com Today we celebrate the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the opening Prayer O God, protector of those who hope in you, without whom nothing has firm foundation, nothing is holy, bestow in abundance your mercy upon us and grant that with you as our rule and guide, we may use the good things that pass in such a way as to hold fast even now to those that ever endure through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

A Reading from the Old Testament 1st Kings 3, 5th verse and the 7th, 12th verse the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night God said, ask something of me and I will give it to you. Solomon answered, o Lord my God, you have made me your servant, king to succeed my father David. But I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act. I serve you in the midst of a people whom you have chosen, a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong, for who is able to govern this vast people of yours? The Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request.

So God said to him, 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 will know what is right. I do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now and after there will come no one to equal you the Word of the Lord. Lord, I love your commands. I have said, O Lord, that my part is to keep your words. The law of your mouth is to me more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Lord, I love your commands. Let your kindness comfort me according to your promise to your servants. Let your compassion come to me, that I may live for your law is my delight. Lord, I love your commands, for I love your commands more than gold, however fine for in all your precepts I go forward. Every false way I hate. Lord, I love your commands.

Wonderful are your decrees, therefore I observe them. The revelation of your words shed light, giving understanding to the simple Lord, I love your commands. A reading from Paul Paul’s letter to the Romans 8, chapter 28, 30th verse. Brothers and sisters, we know that all things work for good for those who love God who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined he also called.

And those he called, he also justified. And those he justified, he also glorified the word of the Lord. Hallelujah. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the kingdom. Alleluia. The gospel for this Sunday is from Matthew 13:44.

46. Jesus said to his disciples, the kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again. And out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field again. The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. The Gospel of the Lord Take the next few moments as we listen to this music to ponder the images and the thoughts that come to you as you listen to these readings.

I want to begin my homily by going back to the very beginning. Adam and Eve, and that original mistake they made. The original sin is very interesting. It needs to be understood clearly. And what I believe they were doing was something that’s so natural to human beings in a lower level of consciousness. They wanted to be their own gods.

That’s exactly what they said. They listened to a lie that said, you know, you can be just like God. You can be Him. You don’t need Him. You’ll be like him autonomous. And that’s a wonderful way of imagining making one of the core spiritual struggles we have in this world.

Are we in charge of our whole life? Are we the ones responsible for everything we do? It’s so easy if you just listen to the Old Testament, to realize that God can give you pretty clear notions of what you should and should not do. The church is very good at telling us what to do and what not to do, and that’s helpful. But in a sense, it leaves out the most exciting, the most wonderful, the most beautiful, the most valuable thing that we have in our relationship with God, and that is his indwelling presence. He wants to be a part of us.

So let’s look at this gospel because when Adam was sent away from. Adam and Eve were sent away from the garden, they entered the earth. And there was a statement that God made to Adam, and he said, you’re going to be. Work’s going to be hard. And of course, use agrarian images. He’d be plowing the fields and there would be thistles and all kinds of struggle and difficulty in raising plants.

And then you just have the food and you would eat it. And it’s not a bad image of just the way we can sometimes get into a way of believing or way of thinking. Life is just a lot of work, a lot of drudgery. We got to do this, we got to do that, and it’s difficult. And then we get a certain benefit from all the work we do. It feeds a part of us.

It certainly takes care of our existence. But as far as our longings and our soul and our heart, it’s not very fulfilling just to be able to finish the task, though it’s enjoyable to do a good job. So what is it that this gospel, then, is talking about? When Jesus, knowing our hearts so perfectly, he said, what you got to understand is that in this world that I’ve given you, there is something hidden. It’s actually you can find it in the very life you’re living, in the work you’re doing. And every now and then you might find something that you hit in your work.

And usually it’s sometimes a dark time. And all of a sudden in that time, you discover something that you never saw before, a treasure, something wonderful. Some insight that you have that life is good, life is full, life could be wonderful. It’s so valuable because it gives you that ability to not be bound into a kind of dark drudgery of life. And I hear people saying, I don’t know if I want to have children today. Because the world’s so dark and so conflicted, and we’re going to go through a horrible experience with the planet.

And I don’t want to bring a child into this world. Imagine saying that. And I know people say it. I’m not judging them for saying it. It’s an easy thing to feel. But where’s the hope in that kind of statement?

And finding this treasure that Jesus talked about in the parable is finding something that changes everything. So much so that everything you have, you let go of all the things you were focused on, you let go to a sort of soft focus, and you’re on this thing, this treasure. And that treasure is hard to describe. But I’m going To try. There’s also an image in this parable of a pearl. It’s beautiful.

There’s something about the beauty of life. So what I think Jesus is talking about is there’s a way of seeing the world where there is so much abundance and so much life and so much enjoyment of the beauty that’s all around us. That’s what I would call grace, grace coming into us. Listen to Paul when he’s talking about our relationship with God. Go back to the way it was with Adam and Eve. They just felt they could be what God is and went on to do their work.

But here Paul is describing what he’s learned from his intimate relationship with God through Jesus speaking to him. And he’s saying, look, here’s what you have to understand. You were known before you came into this world. I knew you. God said, I know you. I made you a certain way.

I know exactly everything about you. And I’m going to do something. I am going to call you into life, call you into birth. And then what I do when I call you into birth, I’m going to do something for you. I’m going to justify you. I’m going to take away everything that separates from you in the sense that sin does create a kind of separation.

I’m going to make sure that never happens. No sin of yours is ever going to separate you from me. So I’m going to call you into this world, justify you by forgiveness, and then I want you to be my glory. My glory. I’ll glorify you. What is glory?

Irenaeus said it so beautifully. Mankind fully alive, fully engaged in the work that God has given them. Giving life to those around him, being fruitful. That’s the glory of God. That’s what he wants. He wants you and me to live in this world as we’re intended to.

To be a little bit, Cisco, a little strong about saving people. I don’t mean saving people by talking them into religion and all that, you know, I’m just saying you’re there to have an impact on the people around you. And when you feel that that’s the essence of who you are and that you can feel what that feels like because it’s so much a part of your human nature. It’s how you were made. You’re predestined for caring for people. And that can be done in so many ways.

It doesn’t mean necessary. Somebody who’s doing something for humanity that has nothing to do with their contact with a person is still doing something compassionate. And empathetic, because they’re doing it for the good of human beings. So then you look at Solomon, and David was the greatest of all the kings. He was amazing. Most kings, and Solomon included, never really fulfilled their obligations to God.

They all turned away from him, so many of them. And that’s what happens when you get power and. And fame and all that. I mean, human beings aren’t made for that. But what he does do in the beginning, he goes back to his humanity. And he turns to God and says something so beautiful.

Look, you’ve given me a job that I cannot do. I don’t feel I’m capable. That’s what I would say that I feel when God says to me, I want you to be compassionate and save the people. Help me heal people around you. I’m too selfish. I’d rather just do something else.

But when God heard that prayer from a human being, his response is the response he gives to us when we discover this treasure. And this treasure is his gift of his presence inside of you and inside of me. I don’t know what to say. I have too many responsibilities, all those things. I’m not capable of doing this work. I’m not capable of giving this homily.

I’m not. But if I trust in you, if I believe in this treasure that I have, this energy, this life force in my heart resonating out of it to other people, I can be doing that even unconsciously, without having to worry about whether I’m doing it or not. But it’s my intention. Solomon’s intention is what God was so thrilled with. Here is a human being among all the human beings that want to be gods, who wants to do the work that I want to do. And what I think we’re asked to understand in the mystery of the Incarnation is that when Paul says that we are made in the image of Jesus, that’s what he’s talking about.

We think the image of Jesus is to be crucified. Well, there’s that work in there, but we think it’s about being perfect. Well, we’ll be better. No, but the real thing that Jesus is is a manifestation of who we are and what our destiny is. Human beings dwelling with this divine presence in an organ that can think, that can feel, that can talk to the brain and get it to do things. This heart can resonate out of its very center, three feet of an electronic electromagnetic field that can affect the heart and the feelings of another person.

All of this science is showing us, and yet it’s underscoring so beautifully for me for the big issue of what I think is in this homily. You have a destiny and your weaknesses are not a block. Your agreement with this plan. You’re wanting to be who God made you to be along with working along with doing it. But you do this and it gives joy. And there’s something about that joy that then opens you, I think, to the beauty of this whole thing.

This world is beautiful in all of its mess, in all of its conflict. There’s beauty here and life is full. A man fully alive, a human being fully alive, is the glory of God, said St. Irenaeus. So think about it. Think about your destiny, think about the call, think about being forgiven and simply being called to pay attention, become conscious of your brother and sister’s needs and just join your intention with God so that you can do something wonderful, something life giving to the people around you.

Amen. The Closing Prayer Father, open our eyes, open our hearts, our minds, our will to your ways, to what you’ve promised, to what you have invited us into and want to work with us. Bless us with hope and we ask this in Jesus name. Amen. The music in our program was composed and produced by Ryan Harner for this show. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is funded with kind donations by listeners just like you.

You can make a one time or recurring tax deductible donation on our website pastoralreflectionsinstitute.com we thank you for your listenership and your continued support. Without it, this program would not be possible. Pastoral Reflections with Monsignor Don Fisher is a production of the Pastoral Reflections Institute, a nonprofit in Dallas, Texas, dedicated to to enriching your spiritual journey. Executive Producer Monsignor Don Fisher produced by Kyle Cross and recorded in Pastoral Reflections Institute Studios. Copyright 2023.