On Saturdays, we pre-send the Sunday reflection for families - the same one Hearth & Altar subscribers receive at the table together.

Have a blessed Sunday - we'll be back Monday morning.

Sunday's Reflection — Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12; Ps 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-130; Rom 8:28-30; Mt 13:44-52

God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said: ask me for anything you want.

Think about what you might ask for in that moment. Long life. Money. Safety for the people you love. The defeat of your enemies. Solomon was a young king responsible for a vast nation, and he could have asked for any of those things. Instead he said: I am just a young man and I don't know what I'm doing. Give me a wise heart so I can lead these people well and tell right from wrong.

God was so pleased with that request that he gave Solomon not only what he asked for but everything he didn't ask for too.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells two short parables about finding something so valuable that you sell everything else for it. The man who finds the treasure buried in the field doesn't drag his feet about selling his house and his stuff. He goes and sells everything out of joy. When you find the real thing, the other stuff is easy to let go.

Universal Prayer

• For our family, that we would ask God for what we actually need rather than what we think we want, we pray to the Lord.
• For the children in our family, that they would develop hearts that can tell right from wrong and love God's wisdom more than gold or silver, we pray to the Lord.
• For all of us, that we would recognize the treasure we have already found in our faith and hold it like the thing worth everything else, we pray to the Lord.
• That all things in our family would work together for good because we love God and are called according to his purpose, we pray to the Lord.

Faith in Action

At dinner tonight, play the Solomon game: if God appeared to you and said "ask me for anything," what would each person ask for? Let the kids answer first. Then share yours. Then read Solomon's answer together. Ask: what would it mean to ask for what Solomon asked for instead?

A Note for Parents

Solomon's request was great because it was oriented toward serving others, not securing himself. The wisest thing you can model for your children is asking God for what you need to serve well - not for things to go your way.