A Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 Romans 8:28-30 Matthew 13:44-52
The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.
God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you” (1 Kgs 3:5)
Talk about a best-case scenario! Is this not the very vision of God we would choose? That God should come to us, like a genie from a freshly rubbed bottle, telling us to ask for anything?
Here is the thing. If you want treasures, make sure they are people. Money can gain interest, properties and other valuables can accrue value, but they are not alive. They are only things we act upon. They cannot act back. We can give our hearts to their pursuit and possession, but they cannot touch our hearts. They cannot love us in return.
Priests pray a lot of people out of life, and here Catholics have a nigh insuperable advantage over ministers from denominations that eschew written prayers. We do not need to search for the right words. Those found in our “Prayers for the Dying” are stark and sublime. Scriptural passages and a litany to the saints culminate in this ancient prayer:
Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
In the name of God the almighty Father,
Who created you,
In the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
Who suffered for you,
In the name of the Holy Spirit,
Who was poured out upon you,
Go forth, faithful Christian.
May you live in peace this day,
May your home be with God in Zion,
With Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
With Joseph and all the angels and saints.
Last week, a woman died as I was praying these words. Her family had filled the hospital room, listening in teary silence.
Possessions cannot say or show love. Only people can. Possessions do not pass through the portal that is death. Only people do.
When I finished, her portly Baptist husband rose from his chair and responded with the power of spontaneity. He leaned over his wife, kissed her forehead and said through his tears: “You were the love of my life. You were the love of my life.”
That is what we want to be able to say, should be able to say, come the end. If you are laboring for those whom you love, your efforts are well worth it. But do not work for them and forget to be with them, because you yourself are their real treasure. Possessions cannot say or show love. Only people can. Possessions do not pass through the portal that is death. Only people do.
The Gospel’s pearl of great price is a person. It is Jesus. He loved us into existence, and his love will sustain us through death. Every love we encounter on this Earth comes to us as his gift, and in him, each of our loves is promised eternal life. Like possessions, people can be swept away, but not if the savior holds them close to his heart.
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 (Rom 8:29).
We are never more human than when we give, when we go out of ourselves toward others, who can respond in turn. You cannot give anything to your possessions, save your even more precious time. You can only give to people. And there is one gift, above all others, you must endeavor to share: your savior.
