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26 lug 2026

July 26, 2026 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

July 26, 2026 - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A

First Reading: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12 from Psalm 118 Second Reading: Rom 8:28-30 Gospel: Mt 13:44-52

Saint Paul, in just a few words, reveals a great mystery: those who love God need fear nothing. Jesus also repeated it several times, when he said that the very hairs on our head are all numbered, and that in God's eyes we are worth more than many sparrows. The apostle knows that God's love covers us, fills us, accompanies us, and therefore we will never be afraid. Consistent with the faith we hold in our hearts, we are neither afraid nor worried. "All things work together for good for those who love God": the word "all" contains everything, and nothing is left out. Why fear? Our Father knows what we need. Do we feel that certain things are going badly? The Father knows why. There is certainly, for us or for the Holy Church, a greater good that He wants us to share.

He wants to reproduce in us the image of His Son, always abandoned in the hands of the Father, even on the cross. We are destined to become like him. Saint Paul always has Jesus in mind: in fact, there is nothing wholesome and holy outside of him. He therefore wants us to accustom ourselves to always turning to him, to desire him, to keep him in our hearts. We are tempted by material worries, by those to which the world continues to accustom us: it wants us to worry, anxiously, if not anguishedly, about secondary or superficial things. Instead, only Jesus must occupy our minds and hearts: without him, they are destined to remain empty.

The first reading reveals to us what occupied the mind and heart of the young Solomon, newly become king. His desire, expressed in his prayer, was so pleasing to God that He immediately wanted to grant it. Solomon is obviously not Jesus, but that king's desire is the same one that Jesus cultivated throughout his life with a perseverance Solomon did not possess, and he also taught us to cherish it.

Solomon says, "I am a child," meaning that he opens his mouth to pray humbly. He knows he can do nothing alone, that he has neither counsel nor wisdom: he needs to learn, like the boy Jesus, when he lingered in the temple with the teachers to listen. And then: "Grant your servant an understanding heart" to "distinguish good from evil." "Distinguishing good from evil" means being able to always do the Father's will, avoiding what is evil in his eyes and thinking and doing what is good in his eyes. Jesus' desire and firm will was precisely this: "Not my will, but yours, be done."

In today's Gospel passage, Jesus tells us three more parables, brief but very significant. With these parables, he wants to describe to us what the kingdom of heaven is and what it should be like. He repeats this in every parable. The kingdom of heaven derives its value from its King, a King who has rejected the kingdoms of the earth: these stand thanks to Satan's violence, and fall, victims of this same violence. In the kingdom of heaven, the center of attention is the King sent by the Father. It is he, Jesus, the only one who came down from heaven.

Who belongs to the kingdom of heaven? Here is the first parable: an ordinary man, but quite wise. When this man discovers a treasure, he does everything possible to buy the field where it is hidden. When I discover the presence of Jesus, the Son of God, the savior of all, I will not miss the opportunity to follow him, even if it means selling or giving up everything that occupies my heart, so that he may be the only one within me, the only value in my life.

The second parable is similar. A man doesn't find a treasure by chance, but seeks it: he knows that the precious pearl lies somewhere, and he goes in search of it, willing to abandon everything to possess it. There are those who seek the gift of love that God certainly wants to give to those he loves. When he discovers that this is Jesus, even though he doesn't yet know his name, he gives up everything for him.

In the third parable, Jesus points out that not everyone is fit for the kingdom of heaven. After catching fish, the fishermen sit down to sort the fish they've caught; not all are edible and therefore fit for sale. The "good" ones are placed in baskets, the others thrown back into the water. Likewise, not everyone can belong to the kingdom of heaven: those who don't want to follow Jesus, or those who don't want to deny themselves to carry their cross, will continue to live and work in the kingdoms of the world.

The work of sorting is reserved for the angels, so we won't worry about it. Our only concern will be to continue searching for the pearl, leaving everything to possess it or to buy the field where the treasure, Jesus our Lord, is hidden. The treasure and the pearl are at our disposal, and with them we will be good, ready to serve the King of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, we will fear nothing.