1 Kgs. 3:5, 7-12; Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130; Rom. 8:28-30; Mt. 13:44-52

Tell a child to ask for anything and you’re likely to get a response of a toy, candy, or McDonalds.  Solomon but a young man asked God for an understanding heart.  It takes a bit of wisdom to know what is best for us and not just what is pleasing to our eyes.  Recall those toys called “Transformers” popular in the 1980s, how they transform objects to come to life as action heroes and villains.  God is the ultimate transformer of lives from what is to what we are called to be if we but know what to ask and how to seek. 

 “All things work for good for those who love God”, says our second reading today.  In loving God, he leads us to be conformed to the image of his Son.  When the day comes and our soul is lifted from our body, and our body is placed in the ground the question we must answer to God is “how did we live in imitation of Christ?”  Christ is the “fine pearl” that gives us an understanding heart to discover the kingdom of God in his church, in his people and in our souls transformed by his grace, transformed into the image of Christ. 

Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to a treasure we can hold, fine pearls to appeal to the eyes, and a great catch to appeal to the appetite and yet it is none of this.  Jesus has a way of drawing us in appealing to our senses yet taking us to a place we cannot imagine.  That is because the kingdom of heaven is not a “thing” we hold but a way of being.  Being in the kingdom of God is something that is lived.  We cannot grasp it with our hands but we can know we are there by living it and by the fruit of our lives where we can see the hand of God at work to sanctify us, save us and answer our prayers. 

In baptism we then all carry a new beginning with a Christ centered image and purpose.  Christ is the sower of the field and the field is our heart.  In our hearts he places his law to come to him, to know him and to love him.  The seed is his word that is to bloom in our hearts and the fruit of the bloom is our love for God and others.   The pearl of life then is our identity in Christ to know ourselves not only as a child of God but as a saint in the kingdom of God reflecting the image of Christ by the gifts we have received and live by.  This is the understanding heart that knows our divine purpose and seeks to live it. 

There is the popular story of an atheist teacher who said to the class “There is no God.  Has anyone ever seen God?”  One student then asked the teacher, “Have you ever seen your brain?”  The teacher said “no”.  Then the student replied “then you have no brain”.  The kingdom of God come to us through invisible grace seen at work through visible signs.  We hear in the Old Testament how no one can see the face of God and live and yet God reveals himself indirectly through visible signs, the burning bush, the voice in the clouds, the angels as messengers.  It is the will of God to reveal himself to us but we have to seek him.  That requires our time to be in prayer, receiving the sacraments, and responding to the movement of the spirit in us.  This is how we can come to receive the wisdom of an understanding heart. 

The Kingdom of God is reflected in what Solomon asked of God.  Consider the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety fear of the Lord.  These are the doors into not only the kingdom of God but to the heart of Christ.  He asked for an understanding heart as a way of being able to see, hear, and know how to lead his people.  In the end he received much more than what he asked for he asked rightly.  The inspiration of understanding produced the fruit of a good leader.  The kingdom of heaven comes to us through the spiritual gifts from God while we are in this world.  They allow us to see him in our world and to serve him.  The kingdom of God is transformative of our humanity into his divinity. 

Recall the story of what is commonly known as the prodigal son who left his father and went outside the kingdom of his father to live his own life.  How soon he discovered the consequences of mortal sin coming from being outside of the kingdom.  At the same time the other son who always stayed within the kingdom of the father did not appreciate all that was his and felt resentful of the father for his mercy to his brother.  God’s desire is to care for all but like the prodigal son many choose their own way and find themselves in the misery of their choice asking “how does this happen to me. 

The Lord’s desire is to enrich us with the gifts of the Spirit that we may all be saints.  This cannot be unless we ourselves come to him with the desire to serve and not be served as Solomon did.  Solomon was the prototype of Jesus who was to come to serve the Father for our salvation.  The love of God is the love of his commands.  It is to see in his commands the good seed of his word given to us in order to serve him by our lives.  Service is at the heart of being Christian. 

This all seems great until we recognize his image includes the wood of the cross, love through sacrifice and justice through mercy.  Can we really love our enemies?  How can this be?  It can only be in the heart of the one who knows “all things work for good for those who love God.”  Our God is a transformative God. 

Whether in life or death, God promises “those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified”.  In the end it is not whether we live or die in this life but how we lived and died for the eternal promises of the kingdom of heaven.