Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

    In those days,
    at Gibeon, during the night,
the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream.
God said to him:
“Ask for what I should give you.”
    Solomon answered:
    “So then, Lord my God,
it was you who made me king, me, your servant,
in the place of David, my father;
but I am a very young man,
not knowing how to conduct myself,
    and here I am in the midst of the people you have chosen;
it is a great people,
so numerous that it cannot be assessed or counted.
    Give your servant an attentive heart
so he may know how to govern your people
and discern good from evil;
without this, how could I govern your people,
who are so important?”

    This request of Solomon pleased the Lord,
who said to him:
    “Since this is what you have asked for,
and not for long life,
nor for riches,
nor for the death of your enemies,
but since you asked for discernment,
the skill to be attentive and to govern,
    I will do what you have asked:
I give you a wise and discerning heart,
such as no one has had before you
and no one will have after you.”

    – The word of the Lord.

My portion, Lord, I have said,
is to follow your words.
My happiness is the law from your mouth,
more than a heap of gold or of silver.

Let your love be my consolation
according to the promise you made to your servant!
Let your tenderness come to me, and I shall live;
your law is my delight.

How I love your will,
more than the finest gold.
I direct myself by every one of your precepts,
I hate every way of falsehood.

How wonderful are your demands,
so my soul keeps them!
Unfolding your word brings light
and the simple understand.

Brothers and sisters,
    we know,
that when people love God,
he makes all things work together for their good,
because they are called according to the purpose of his love.
    Those whom, beforehand, he knew,
he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
so that this Son
would be the firstborn among a multitude of brothers.
    Those he predestined,
he also called;
those he called,
he made just;
and those he justified,
he gave them his glory.

    – The word of the Lord.

At that time,
Jesus spoke to the crowd in these parables:
    “The kingdom of Heaven is like
a treasure hidden in a field;
the man who found it re-hides it.
In his joy, he goes and sells all he has,
and he buys that field.

    Or again:
The kingdom of Heaven is like
a merchant in search of fine pearls.
    Finding one pearl of great value,
he goes and sells all he has,
and he buys the pearl.

    The kingdom of Heaven is also like
a net that is cast into the sea,
and brings in all kinds of fish.
    When it is full, people haul it to shore,
they sit down,
they gather into baskets what is good,
and throw away what is worthless.
    So will it be at the end of the world:
the angels will come out to separate the wicked from among the just
    and will throw them into the furnace:
there, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

    “Have you understood all this?”
They answer him: “Yes.”
    Jesus added:
“This is why every scribe
who has become a disciple for the kingdom of Heaven
is like the master of a household
who brings out of his storeroom both new and old things.”

    – Let us acclaim the word of God.

 

OR SHORTER READING

At that time,
Jesus spoke to the crowd in these parables:
    “The kingdom of Heaven is like
a treasure hidden in a field;
the man who found it re-hides it.
In his joy, he goes and sells all he has,
and he buys that field.

    Or again:
The kingdom of Heaven is like
a merchant in search of fine pearls.
    Finding one pearl of great value,
he goes and sells all he has,
and he buys the pearl.

    – Let us acclaim the word of God.