The quality of wisdom that Solomon requests is a spiritual gift that is a fruit of the Holy Spirit of Truth that God pours into the hearts of believers. It is the gift of discernment. Discernment is the ability to distinguish God’s will, to tell right from wrong, good from bad, useful from useless, just from wicked, wise from foolish, valuable from worthless. Divine wisdom, given by the Holy Spirit, helps us to discern what is the true good that we must treasure in our hearts.
The kingdom of heaven begins on earth through the gift of wisdom and discernment. It begins by recognizing what is the “good stuff” of life and treasuring that always in our hearts. From the good stuff we learn important lessons of love and grace. St. Paul tells the Philippians: “Whatever gains I had, these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil 3,7f) Divine wisdom and discernment help us to recognize that the supreme good in life is found in knowing Christ Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.
When we fill our lives with good stuff then we truly have a sense of heaven on this earth. The good stuff, the hidden treasures, the pearl of great worth are often not material things but experiences of God’s love and presence among us. This can be experienced in good friendships, loving relationships with parents and spouses, good memories of beauty and truth, things that affirm us and help us to realize our true worth. We experience the true good and gift of God in our prayer as we rest in the love of our Heavenly Father and celebrate the sacraments of his love. The most beautiful and valuable gifts and graces are discoveries of faith, realizations of things not seen, the resplendence of heaven breaking though our everyday lives here on earth. St. Paul tells the Romans today: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8,28)
The parable of the dragnet reminds us of the value of a discerning heart. It is a simple principle: sort through the things that life’s net brings in, things that are both good and bad, useful and worthless; keep the good stuff, putting it in a bucket to save and throw out all that is not good and helpful in life. “What was useless they threw away.” Too often our difficulties in life today lie in the fact that we are not discerning and we tend to throw away things that are truly good, valuable and necessary for life. Many people throw away good friendships, marriages and relationships with parents and children, their childhood faith and relationship with God. Instead they hold onto what is painful, old hurts and disappointments, grudges and divisive opinions. They relive past failures and hurtful experiences over and over again drinking in the bitterness and turning life into a continuous ordeal of suffering. These are the things that we must learn to “throw away” in our lives. Don’t hold onto the bad, the useless and the abusive things in life. When we confess our sins with true contrition, we need to leave our sins behind and accept God’s mercy and forgiveness. We don’t continue to think of what causes us pain and suffering in life but rather, as St. Paul tells the Philippians: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing what you have learned and seen in me. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (Phil 4,8f)
If we are to discover the kingdom of heaven hidden in this life’s experiences we need a wise and discerning heart that is able to give everything to life’s real treasures – the gifts and graces of love. We need to store up the treasure of good friends, family and traditions of faith, hope and love. We need to dispose of the trash in our lives, clean out the closets of our hearts where we have allowed the clutter of useless things to build up and free our hearts for what truly gives us life in abundance. Freed from the burden of life’s sins and failures we can then run the race that is before us as the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: “Let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.” (Heb 12,1f) and St. Paul tells the Corinthians: “Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.” (1Cor 9,24) Hold on to that bucket full of good and graceful things that help us in life and go “all in” and run the race of your life, obtaining that hidden treasure and that pearl of great price.
As Jesus teaches us in the gospel today, the kingdom of heaven is composed of both the old and the new that lay in the storeroom of our hearts. The “old” things in life, the tried and true values of life, traditional faith, traditional family life, traditional marriage, and traditional friendships are all worth keeping and treasuring. As God speaks to us through Jeremiah the prophet: “Thus says the Lord: Stand beside the earliest roads, ask the pathways of old which is the way to good, and walk it; thus you will find rest for your souls.” (Jer 6,16) and the “new” things in life, as St. Paul tells us in Romans that we are raised up to new life in Christ through our baptism and we live now in the “newness of life.” God’s graces are always making things new and giving us new insights and discoveries into the truth that sets us free. The old and the new always go hand in hand and help us to discern what is of true worth and value in our lives. The new builds upon the old and leads us to discern the truth of God’s immeasurable love for us and the supreme good of knowing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior! Amen!