“Wisdom and Discernment in God’s Presence”

Dear Parishioners,

        God’s presence and His invitation to a relationship with Him can be hard to explain. Jesus frequently used parables to offer insight into this mystery and its significance in our lives. Today, we focus on two of those parables: the pearl of great price and the overflowing fishing net.

        The first teaches us that God’s presence and the relationship that flows from it are like a valuable pearl for which we must be willing to give up everything. Once we truly recognize the difference God’s presence makes in our lives, we will not want to be without it for even the shortest time.

        Of course, there is the danger of taking our relationship with God for granted or losing sight of it amid life's busyness. Jesus recognizes this danger as part of our broken humanity. Yet he challenges us to see our relationship with God for what it is and what it demands of us. It gives us everything, but it also demands all we have and all we are.

        In the second parable, Jesus depicts a net full of fish, highlighting the challenge of sorting the catch. Some fish are kept and sold; others are returned to the sea. Similarly, those seeking God’s presence through faith must sift through their life experiences to discern what is divine and what is not. Like Solomon in our first reading, we need the gift of wisdom to understand God’s will. Solomon asked for wisdom—not worldly wisdom, but divine wisdom from God. We should also seek this gift from God.

        The gifts of wisdom and discernment are essential because God’s way of operating and his presence in our lives aren’t always obvious. Especially when we’re facing challenges, we might wish that God would reveal himself and his will more clearly. But God wants us to grow, to come freely to an ever-deeper understanding of our identity and our relationship with him. God wants, even demands, that we work at our relationship with him. All human growth involves both good and bad experiences: the ability to sift through them and come to see the very hand of God in our lives.

        As we come to this Eucharist, let us ask Jesus, the very wisdom of God, to fill us with the gift of his presence and help us to discern the things of God properly as we seek to follow him each day of our lives.

Thank you for being part of our parish family and for your presence here.

Fr. Canisius