(For the audio version of this post, please visit: https://brothersinchristcmf.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Mass-Blog-for-the-17-Sunday-in-Ordinary-Time-2026.mp3)
Our most beloved fairy tales teach lessons about the dangers of wishes. Stories like “Aladdin and his Magic Lamp” and “The Monkey’s Paw” involve people given three of them. Thanks to the original sin of selfishness, each wish these characters make necessitates using the next wish to fix the problems caused by the previous one.
In Sunday’s first reading (1 Kings 3:5, 7-12) God offers Solomon ONE wish, so he had to make it good.” He does so by asking for the one thing that would have saved those fictional characters from their selfish wishes. Wisdom.
“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.”
By seeking wisdom, Solomon showed God he already had a strong foundation on which to build the beautiful life intended for him. That one wise wish for understanding also earned unlimited blessings for others in Solomon’s life.
Where we go wrong is substituting wishes for prayer. Too often we see God as a genie who acts like Santa Claus instead of a God who acts as our Father. That turns faith into superstition. Even Stevie Wonder could see that, and he made that the core message of his song “Superstition”:
“When you believe in things that you don’t understand then you suffer.
Superstition ain’t the way.”
People in positions of responsibility, from parents to CEOs, would be wise to pray as Solomon did, seeking the same understanding for which others in their lives come to them. Writers since the age of Solomon have laced their work with the understanding they store in their mental vault after prayer. In Sunday’s gospel reading, when his disciples assure Jesus they understood the morals of his parables, he offers this timeless advice to them and us:
“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.” (Matthew 13:44-52)
Life lessons that inspire wisdom improve with age like fine wine. If we are wise enough to live the word of God, we serve the purpose for which our author created us. Paul explains the purpose and the moral of our own stories:
“To be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” (Romans 8:28-30)
We are among a succession of heroes in our Author’s never-ending story. Live your story wisely.
–Tom Andel