July 24, 2011 - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reading 1 - 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
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 the 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 may 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 you there will come no one to equal you.”
Responsorial Psalm - 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130
R. (97a) 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.
R. 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.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
For I love your command more than gold, however fine.
For in all your precepts I go forward; every false way I hate.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Wonderful are your decrees; therefore I observe them.
The revelation of your words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Reading II - Rom 8:28-30
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.
Gospel - Mt 13:44-52
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. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.” And he replied, “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
Reflection
King Solomon is a case study in prayer. The first reading depicts him in the midst of a timeless human fantasy—being granted one wish by an all-powerful being. There’s a reason that the story of Aladdin and his magic lamp possess cross-cultural appeal—it’s a universal experience of the human condition, bound as we are by finite resources and limited opportunities, to sit and think about what we would ask for, were we ever presented with such an opportunity.
When we were young, most of us likely responded with seemingly unattainable luxury items (“a Ferrari!”) or romantic targets (perhaps a famous movie star, or a crush from our middle school classes). As we got older, still continuing to entertain the hypothetical—“What would you wish for?” we most likely turned our attention to more “adult” considerations like getting into grad school; obtaining the job of our dreams; or meeting the person of our dreams, getting married, and having a happy family. Or, if we have faced some particular personal crisis or situational adversity, we may have thought we would ask, for instance, that a loved one’s cancer go into remission, or a sibling return from an overseas deployment, or that we would not lose our job in the next round of layoffs. And in addition to these more serious wishes, we may even have toyed with the notion of using one of our wishes (assuming we were granted 3) on securing a national championship or league title for our favorite sports franchise.
But God is not a genie, and prayer does not work like rubbing a lamp. All too often, people will express their frustration with God, complaining that, “God doesn’t seem to answer my prayers.” If ever they are asked to expound on that assertion, usually they indict God on a charge of more or less failing to be a genie. The unexamined premise is that, when we make the Sign of the Cross and ask God for something, an “answer” to that prayer consists of God granting our request (and in a timely manner, as determined by our sense of when things need to happen).
To understand how supplication (i.e. asking for something) ought to work, we can study Solomon’s exchange with God.
The first thing to notice is that God invites Solomon to ask God for something. Like a child who is afraid to ask a parent if we can have an extra slice of cake or stay out past our curfew, all too often we do not wish to ask God, who is “Father,” for things we want. In fact, we may even have been told at some point along the way that we SHOULD NOT ask God for things. That our prayers should be focused on praising and thanking God for all of the good things in our life, and expressing our contrition for the many times we have messed up. But, as evidenced both by Jesus in his instruction to his disciples on how to pray to God “…Give us today our daily bread…” and in today’s passage from the Book of Kings, God actively invites us to petition Him for things.
There is a reason that the congregation does not start the Prayer of the Faithful at Sunday Mass with the preamble, “We feel really bad asking you this, God, and we know that you’re really busy, but, if you could take care of the following sick people…” We don’t make any apology, and we shouldn’t feel any reluctance—like a teacher who says, “I WANT you to come to me for help if you’re having trouble,” God tells us that God truly desires that we bring our needs to God.
But all too often, we ask for the “wrong” things. Frequently, we ask for some external phenomenon, e.g. that it will be sunny on the day of a wedding, that a set of medical tests will come back negative, or that a particular fellowship committee will select us for an award. King Solomon, by contrast, does not ask for any external occurrence, but for an internal transformation. He could have requested personal riches or national security; he could have elucidated a desire to see the harvest be bountiful or the next military conquest successful. Instead, he asks that God work the change on his person.
There are numerous aphorisms that get to this point, but perhaps the most well-known is the adage, “Do not pray for challenges equal to your strength, but for strength equal to your challenges.” Solomon does not pray that God will remove any adversity from his reign; rather he asks that God will endow him with the wisdom necessary to meet that adversity and surmount it. It would be akin to us asking, not that the LSATs would be any easier or that the marathon would be any shorter, but that God would infuse us with the discipline and endurance to study for the exam and train for the race. The purpose of petitionary prayer is not to ask God to suspend the laws of the universe so that we might have it easier; but to recognize before God our weaknesses and limitations, and to ask God to help us overcome the challenges we face.
Blessed Mother Teresa was famed to have said, “I know that the Lord won’t give me anything I can’t handle; I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” Mother Teresa, a modern exemplar of virtue on par with the prophets of the Old Testament and saints throughout history, frequently cited her dependence on God to accomplish the mission she was tasked to do. She did not ask God to eliminate the affliction of leprosy, nor did she request that it be someone else’s job to do something about it—instead, she petitioned that God imbue her with the strength to live out her vocation.
As we go about facing the myriad challenges of everyday living—helplessness as a loved one battles cancer; anxiety over the inability to find a job; fatigue from many months with no real success on the dating scene—we ought to keep in mind that, like Solomon, we are invited by God to ask for help. And, as we begin to formulate our request, we might think to ourselves, “In this situation, what would Solomon ask for?” More than likely, we will find ourselves recognizing that Solomon would not ask for an amazing guy/girl to drop into our lap, but for patience in the interim and confidence with respect to our self-worth, irrespective of our romantic status. Strength equal to our challenges, rather than challenges equal to our strength. In the coming week, as we prepare to talk to God in prayer, we might think of those little WWJD bracelets that were popular a few years back and say, “What would Solomon ask?”
Questions for Reflection
1) Solomon was tasked with the governance of his country, and so he asked for wisdom. What are you currently tasked with (being in charge of a project; dating someone; looking for a job), and what sorts of virtues might be helpful as you face the challenges that inevitably will be a part of these things?
2) When you pray, do you ask primarily for things for yourself or others? Do you ever feel “guilty” asking for things for yourself? If so, why? What sorts of things do you ask for?
3) Is it your experience that God “answers your prayers?” If not, what have you hoped for that you have not received? Was there ever a time in your life when you asked for things of God the way someone might ask of a magic genie?
4) What one specific request will you take to prayer with you this week?
