Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Ignatius of Loyola, patron of retreats and founder of the Jesuits, places a key consideration at the beginning of his Spiritual Exercises retreat, called “The Principle and Foundation”. In this text, St. Ignatius has the person making the retreat begin by considering what the goal and meaning of life truly is: to praise, to reverence, and to serve God our Lord. God’s glory is our goal. Everything else, St. Ignatius continues, is to be evaluated, to be discerned as helpful or not helpful, based on whether it helps us to give greater glory to God. Wealth, reputation, a long and healthy life may help give greater glory to God, but making those things our top priorities can also make us lose sight of life’s true goal.
Solomon in our first reading today realizes what will really help him achieve his goal of giving glory to God by governing well the people entrusted to his care. His people perhaps could use a king with financial resources, or a king who enjoys good health, or who is adept in military strategy. But what they really, really need is a wise king. The divine gift that Solomon prays for is wisdom, understanding, the ability to judge well what is right from what is wrong. Money and power can do as much harm as they can do good, especially when used over the course of a long life. Wisdom turns everything to the benefit of all. By allowing us to see how God, our true King, is showing us how to live in His Kingdom, wisdom helps us to build our lives upon the most solid foundation. To know His ways is worth even “selling all that we have” as the merchants in today’s Gospel, divesting ourselves of anything that serves our own vainglory to the detriment of God’s greater glory.
Let us ask our Lord again and again for the grace of the Church’s prayer this week:
Lord, with you as our ruler and guide,
may we use the good things that pass
in such a way as to hold fast even now
to those that ever endure. Amen.