17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Once upon a time there was the "wisdom of Solomon."
Solomon proclaims to the Lord: "I am a mere man not knowing how to act..."

 Solomon is no narcissist.
Solomon is no braggart who must have his name attached to every building.
Solomon is no liar who covers up his own constant lying by accusations of "fake news" by others.
Solomon knows he must seek "an understanding heart" rather than a petty, self-centered one.

And to this God responded:
"I give you a heart so wise that there has never been anyone like you; so understanding ...

Instead, too often there have been leaders like Mussolini who boasted:
"I will make Italy GREAT AGAIN!" And others in our own time too much like the preening "Il Duce!"

Today in the Gospel, Jesus continues to provide us with parables.

A man finds a treasure in a field.
Like Solomon, he is wise and far seeing, so he goes off and buys the field,
and now the treasure is his own.
So, where is our treasure?

The wise seeker will ask: "What is of lasting value? There is my treasure."

Last week we drove down 32 Avenue in Omaha right past my boyhood home.
I could name every neighbor from my youth,
yet they are now all of them gone, vanished with all their hopes and dreams.

So too their treasures.

Among them was an immigrant German grandmother
who buried her jewelry in her back yard because of her previous experience
of the collapse of the German economy after War I.

Treasures are of no value unless they are unearthed and brought into the light.

And so we pray:
Deliver us O Lord
From the high and mighty
Who deceive us
With narcissism and braggadocio.
Open our hearts to
Unearth the hidden treasures
Of faith, hope, and love.
Amen