In 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12, Solomon asked God for “an understanding heart”. That let God say to him: “‘Because you have asked for this, and 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 will do as you requested. I give you a heart so wide and understanding that there has never been anyone like you up to now, and after you, there will come no one to equal you.”
Today’s Psalm 119: 57, 72, 76-77, 127-130 confirms how we may have “The Wisdom of Solomon”: “Lord I love Your commands… my part is to keep Your Words… they are more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces… in all your precepts I go forward… every false way I hate… the revelation of Your Words sheds light, giving understanding to the simple.”
Romans 8:28-30 makes things “simple” for those “simple” enough to be as Catholic as we can! “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.”
Those who try to love God and our neighbors as ourselves are blessed to be among those described in today’s “Alleluia”! Matthew 11:25: “Blessed are You, Father, Lord of Heaven and earth; for You have revealed to little ones the mysteries of The Kingdom.” Another goal for Catholics: Be “simple” and “little”!
Today, He Who Fulfilled the Messianic Prophecies gave His beloved “simple people” His Reason to “Be Catholic!” and respectfully follow His Church-Creating Word that He Spoke to His First Catholic Pope! “And I say unto you: ‘Thou art Peter and on this rock I build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I give you the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven.”
Matthew 13:44:52 tells us how those blessed to “be simple” get the “keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” that He died to leave on earth! “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.'”
Catholics know what we are blessed to “buy” with our “simple” obedience:
First, we “buy” the “keys to The Kingdom of Heaven”! They include The Seven Catholic Sacraments of Baptism, Confession/Absolution, Communion, Confirmation, Marriage, Healing, and the Holy Orders that take human form in all God’s “simple” people!
Second, we “buy” God’s protection from the seven tribes of corrupting demons that cause every problem in every mind on earth: pride, envy, greed, gluttony, anger, lust, and sloth. Catholic Fundamentalism has invented a New Word to make them easy to remember: “peggalas”!
Then, Jesus shares a frightening fact! “‘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.'”
Then, Jesus asks The Catholic Question to every person on earth and to all who are reading this, now: “‘Do you understand all these things?'”
“They (His disciples in every generation) 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.”
Jesus just described every Catholic Bishop, priest, religious, parent, grandparent, and teacher for the past 2,000 years who is the “head” of every Catholic Diocese, parish, and family that is blessed to be a “household” of God!
Catholics are blessed to be this “simple”! We take the old “wisdom of Solomon” from God’s Old Testament and the Church-Creating Word of Jesus from The Living Truth of God’s New Testament, and we are blessed to have“the keys to The Kingdom of Heaven” for our immortal souls!
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Today’s Simple Rhyme: “May all be blessed to understand, / And be as Catholic as we can!”
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