[00:00] Praise be Jesus and Mary, now and forever. We have the example of Solomon. Solomon was the son of King David, who when he was told by our Lord to ask for whatever he wanted, I mean he could have asked for all kinds of things. God is appearing to you, so to speak, saying, "Ask whatever you want."

[00:33] I mean a lot of things could come to our mind in that moment, probably a whole lot of earthly things. But here we have King Solomon asking for something very great. He asks for divine wisdom. So we need to distinguish between human wisdom and earthly wisdom or worldly wisdom and divine wisdom. So human wisdom is simply that ability that we can gain with experience and knowledge

[01:05] so as to become more capable of just seeking the best in every situation, according to human understanding. That which is the best for us, for our neighbor, but without the dimension of faith. It's still a good and natural capability that we can acquire. But then that can be tainted by giving an excessive value to earthly things. So here human wisdom becomes worldly wisdom where I'm using this experience and this knowledge

[01:38] to gain that which I believe to be true possessions, earthly things, earthly enjoyments and entertainments and money, success, pleasure, et cetera. So I'm using all of this in order to ensure a greater gain in the sense. So we have in opposition to worldly wisdom and certainly a whole lot more perfect than just plain human wisdom, we have divine wisdom. Here we have wisdom which is a gift from God where we see things in the light of faith.

[02:13] We see things as God sees them. We give true value to eternal things. And it comes together with a special light and action of the Holy Spirit so that we are enabled to seek in every situation that which is pleasing to God, giving the correct value to eternal things and seeking them above all. So Solomon asked for this gift and God, pleased with this request, gave him this divine wisdom. St. Augustine says he is truly wise who prefers eternal things to temporal things.

[02:51] It doesn't make any sense to give almost like an absolute value to pebbles when you've got diamonds nearby. Whereas this is very often what happens in the world where you give, you possess and you desire as something almost absolute for your happiness, that which in reality in contrast or in comparison to eternal things is just some dust. So we need to learn, and this is a special grace we want to ask for as well,

[03:25] to give the correct value to things. There are a whole lot of things on the earth that are useful, licit to possess them, to have them, to seek them insofar as they are useful, but they're not the end. All these things pass. They are higher goods. And these higher goods need to be sought above all. And here we have the necessity of this wisdom so as to give the correct value to things. Our Lord continues to speak within this theme in the gospel.

[03:58] He speaks about finding the pearl of great price, finding the treasure in the field. And note here that just finding the treasure is kind of a gift. There's no effort required to find the treasure. But to actually possess the treasure, you need to sell everything. And here there's an important lesson that God very often grants that grace, and it's sort of quite freely available if we have a little bit of goodwill and we're seeking truth, to realize that He is the end for whom we are created.

[04:32] To encounter Jesus Christ and to begin to understand here is the pearl of great price. Here is the treasure in the field. But to truly possess Him in our hearts, it requires a gift of self. There's an exchange here of love. So in order for that treasure to become mine, I have to give myself, deny myself. This is the language of true love. It's not about receiving. It's about giving. So I discover that treasure.

[05:02] I discover God's love for me. I discover the incredible wealth that God has given me. I discover the incredible wealth enclosed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and in all the graces of salvation and in possessing the kingdom of God in our hearts. But in order to truly possess this, I need to sell all. In other words, learn to deny my own will, to love God's will, to renounce that earthly evaluation of things so as to become detached from them

[05:36] and seek earthly things above, seek divine things, spiritual things above all, which goes together with the correct use of earthly things, using them as a means, using them to serve God and our neighbor and not as an end in themselves, but seeking above all that interior union with God as the highest treasure. God is, if we can use an earthly comparison, as I already mentioned, something like an incredibly beautiful gem or diamond compared to dust.

[06:11] Everything on this earth is, however beautiful it might be sometimes, it's like fine dust compared to eternal things and compared to that most beautiful pearl that is God's divine love itself. Everything else becomes secondary when we've discovered the primary thing. Our Lord elsewhere says that where our treasure is, there also our hearts will be.

[06:44] So if our minds and our hearts are continually engaged in earthly things, well, it probably suggests that that's where our hearts are, that's where we put our trust, that's where we put our security. So, I mean, don't get me wrong, sometimes it's just in the fulfillment of our earthly duties, we're going to have to think a lot about things that involve the temporal order. But this cannot be done in such a way that we're sort of possessed by these things and they're sort of, our hearts are engaged as if those things were the whole reason for our existence.

[07:18] Everything has to be done always with this interior detachment, knowing that true possession or true treasure is divine treasure, possessing God in our hearts, living in the heavenly kingdom, which is a kingdom of love, of true peace, kingdom of divine charity that needs to reign in our hearts and that becomes then a token of eternal joy, eternal happiness, eternal beatitude.

[07:51] Our Lord then also gives us this image of a drag net, fishing net thrown into the sea. St. Augustine and other Church Fathers consider this net as a sign of the Church. This is the classic patristic interpretation. It's the Church that drags in, so to speak, souls of every type, men of every type, saints and sinners, faithful, weak, good and bad, but the judgment comes at the end of time.

[08:25] So they're going to be souls who correspond fully to God's love, who truly live the gospel and respond fully to it. They're going to be those who, even though they are within the net, they're not living the gospel and maybe they're even getting scandal. So we can sort of identify two dangers here. And that is that some people at times leave the Church because they say, "Hey, there's sinners inside here.

[08:55] There's some people who are not being faithful to the gospel, therefore I'm leaving." That's the wrong idea. We're all within the same net. This is the one net of salvation that God is throwing out to catch, but the fact that there's some bad fish doesn't mean that you're not in the net. This is still the net that God has thrown for your salvation. So remain in the net. At the end of time, there will be the separation of the good fish from the bad fish. The other danger or risk is that of thinking that simply because I'm in the net, I'm saved.

[09:29] In other words, just being in the net isn't sufficient. There needs to be that docility, that exchange, that response on our part that allows us to be transformed into Christ, transformed by His love, by His grace. Am I allowing Jesus to transform me interiorly? So being in the net is certainly a grace, but it's not enough. I have to correspond to divine grace.

[10:00] So let us keep these lessons in mind. Let us turn to Our Blessed Mother, the Seat of Wisdom. It's one of the titles that traditionally is given to Our Blessed Mother. Seat of Wisdom. Sede Sapientiae. She's mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. We know that Our Blessed Mother received as no other creature a share in divine wisdom. Once Our Lady appeared to St. Matilda, I think it was,

[10:34] and explained to her, among other things, the fact that Jesus, who is eternal wisdom, has given a full share of His wisdom to His Blessed Mother. He's given her a full share in His wisdom. So whereas He is eternal, uncreated wisdom, she is, so to speak, created wisdom. She's received a full share in the wisdom of her Son. So whereas He is wisdom by nature, she is wisdom by grace. She knows that which is pleasing to God.

[11:05] She knows the best way to serve Him, to love Him in every situation. And so we need to turn to her, asking her to obtain for us this divine wisdom so that we can truly seek the things that are above, give the correct value to the things on the earth, and live our lives so as not to lose the eternal treasure, or rather to gain the eternal treasure. Let's finally keep in mind the words of St. Paul in the second reading when he says,

[11:39] "We know that all things work for the good of those who love God." All things, no exception. If you truly want to love God and you're truly with good will trying to love Him, nothing can happen to you that God does not know how to use for your good. We're not talking about a corporal good, a material good. We're talking about an eternal good. He knows how to use everything that happens to those who love Him for their greater eternal good.

[12:09] Let's always keep this in mind. Praise be Jesus and Mary. Amen.

[12:44] Amen.