Reading 1
1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.
God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
Solomon answered:
“O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king
to succeed my father David;
but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act.
I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen,
a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted.
Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart
to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.
For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?”
The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request.
So God said to him:
“Because you have asked for this—
not for a long life for yourself,
nor for riches,
nor for the life of your enemies,
but for understanding so that you may know what is right—
I do as you requested.
I give you a heart so wise and understanding
that there has never been anyone like you up to now,
and after you there will come no one to equal you.”
119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130Responsorial Psalm
R. (97a) Lord, I love your commands.
I have said, O LORD, that my part
is to keep your words.
The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Let your kindness comfort me
according to your promise to your servants.
Let your compassion come to me that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
For I love your command
more than gold, however fine.
For in all your precepts I go forward;
every false way I hate.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Wonderful are your decrees;
therefore I observe them.
The revelation of your words sheds light,
giving understanding to the simple.
R. Lord, I love your commands.
Rom 8:28-30Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
We know that all things work for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
For those he foreknew he also predestined
to be conformed to the image of his Son,
so that he might be the firstborn
among many brothers and sisters.
And those he predestined he also called;
and those he called he also justified;
and those he justified he also glorified.
Mt 13:44-52 or 13:44-46Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household
who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old.”
Catholic Fundamentalism Interpretation:
The Loving Programmer downloaded Himself within the operating system of a very intelligent human program, saying, “Ask Me for programming assistance and I’ll let you access it.”
Solomon answered: “O Loving Programmer Whom I worship, You have made, in Your Program, me to be king to succeed Your favored human program, my father, David. But, I don’t have a lot of programming experience. I have no idea what I should do or how to organize the teeming number of human programs over whom You have given me authority. Download within me, then, understanding so that I may judge Your people and know right from wrong. How else can this vast people of Yours be governed?”
The Loving Programmer was pleased that His favored human program was humble enough to ask for the right kind of programming assistance, that which would help him the job The Loving Programmer had given him. So, He said to him,
“Since you asked for skill to serve and not to satisfy your own vanity, wealth and revenge, I will grant you the programming assistance you’ve asked to access.
I grant you a heart with such a grasp of all the programs within The Creation Program that no one before or after you will have that much understanding of what I have programmed and downloaded.”
O Loving Programmer, I love Your Operating Instructions.
I have said, Loving Programmer, that my highest purpose is to obey Your Operating Instructions. They are more precious to me than billions in scarce metal programs.
O Loving Programmer, I love Your Operating Instructions.
Let Your Kindness keep me from distress according to Your Promise to those who obey Your Operating Instructions. Let Your Compassion be downloaded within me that my own program may continue to run, for Your Operating Instructions are my greatest joy.
O Loving Programmer, I love Your Operating Instructions.
For I love Your Operating Instructions more than the finest of the metal programs. (Only) in Your Teaching may I move toward You. I hate every lie.
O Loving Programmer, I love Your Operating Instructions.
Your Operating Instructions are wonderful, so I study and obey them. Your Words (are Your Programs) let us see reality, and let those who have renounced complexities have understanding.
O Loving Programmer, I love Your Operating Instructions.
Brothers and sisters, we know that all the programs work together for good for we human programs who love The Loving Programmer and who are called to do His Will. Those of us whom He knew would do His Will, He also programmed to align our human programs with The Program so that He might be the first of many who believed and obeyed. Those whom He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also gave strength to answer His Call, and they have been (and will forever be) glorified. (We who believe and obey have been called, and we can be nothing but overwhelmed with gratitude.)
Jesus (The Program, in perfect, obedient, human form Who came among us in fulfillment of The Programmer’s Will) told those who first believed in Him, “(Access to) Programming HQ is like a chest of jewels buried in a field. A person finds it, and does not steal it, but puts it back. Joyfully, he goes and sells all he has and exchanges things that humans have made for rightful, legitimate access to The Loving Programmer.
Again, (access to) Programming HQ is like a businessman who spends his career searching for the most valuable programmed entities to be found on earth. When he finds a perfect pearl the size of a softball, he sells all that he has and buys the one, finest thing, he can find.
Again (access to) Programming HQ is like a net angels have dragged across the earth, collecting every one of the human programs’s lives and souls. When The Program has run its course, the net of collected souls is taken to Programming HQ. There, the human programs who have believed in The Programmer and obeyed His Operating Instructions are given access to Programming HQ. The human programs who chose to let their operating systems be corrupted by viruses are erased.
This is what happens when The Program has run its course: The Loving Programmer’s Programming Assistants will go out and separate those who disobeyed The Operating Instructions from those who obeyed Them. Those who disobeyed will be sent to eternal pain, where they will live in the agony of regret for all their bad choices.
He asked those who would bring The Roman Catholic Church into being on earth, “Do you understand all these things (that I’ve told you)?
They said, “Yes.”, and He replied:
“Then everyone who learns from The Loving Programmer and His Assistants must look to both the Old and the New Programming Logs, bringing forth the appropriate Informations and Operating Instructions that are needed (to help those who need it.”
(It would be nice to think that the tenets of Catholic Fundamentalism are, sometimes, among the “new”.)
