1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 / Romans 8:28-30 / Matthew 13:44-52
If there is anything that we need now, probably the first thing that would come to our minds is a vaccine against the virus that is causing this pandemic.
And it is not just we who need it. The whole world needs, but it doesn’t seem that a vaccine will be available so soon, although it is needed urgently.
This pandemic is just too disruptive. It has disrupted the life of the whole world right down to our personal lives.
Oh yes, we want a vaccine and we want it urgently so that our lives can go back to normal.
But what is this normal life that we have in our minds that we are thinking of?
Is it a life where we can have more time with our loved ones, to have family meals together, to have time for conversation with our family members and even to pray together as a family?
But isn’t that what is happening now, or at least it is possible now.
What seemed so difficult to achieve in the past, now it is possible. But do we want it?
So, the fundamental question is: Do we know what we really want? Do we know what we really need?
And if we are still thinking about that question, let us recall the conversation between God and Solomon in the 1st reading.
God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said: Ask what you would like Me to give you.
Many things could have crossed the mind of Solomon, but he asked for this - he asked for a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil so that he can govern the people of God.
And that pleased the Lord God because what Solomon asked for was not for himself but for the good of the people and for the glory of God.
In prayer we ask for many things. Some are for ourselves and some are for others.
But like what Solomon asked for, may what we ask for be for the good of others and for the glory of God.
Because the glory of God shines brightly when people live out the goodness in themselves and when they understand the ways of the Lord and walk by it.
Let us ask the Lord to give us the heart to understand, the heart that was given to Solomon so that we will be able to discern the signs of the times and to know what the Lord is asking of us.
But let us understand that in these times God wants us to love Him by loving others.
When we do that, then we will receive treasures from above, and we will be given what we need.