July 26, 2026 – 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Reflection by Rev. Leonard N. Peterson
If you say that someone is a wise guy, you dislike the fact that they think they are very clever and always have an answer for everything. Or that they are cocksure, conceited, and often insolent. Nothing to be proud of as a reputation. Surely not the type of person the Lord urges us to be when He urges us to be wise.
In the context of His speaking of the kingdom of God, He means for us to be the opposite of arrogant but rather to be both docile and desirous of one thing in life: to be part of God’s kingdom. That’s our one real “job” in this life. Wise people know it and live for it. The question the gospel asks is “Are you one of the wise?”
Asking that of ourselves on a Sunday morning after Mass and we are practically bound to answer “For sure.” But it’s not the same ready answer a few days or nights later in the week. Or perhaps when we are faced with a personal or family health challenge. Or financial stress. Or parental difficulty with one’s teenager. The list seems to change and lengthen as time moves along.
Yet there comes a point in life, acknowledged in the Bible and in our unwritten biographies where we attain a real but elusive “senior wisdom.” We’ve “been there and done that” to the point where we can offer sage advice to the young among us who have the sense to ask us. Of course, in this case the young have to take the initiative. Unsolicited advice is never accepted no matter how wise.
Our Lord Jesus only asks that we get our priorities straight, no matter our age. Yet, it is essential that we have signs and markers along the way. Otherwise, we fall victim to a defective human only wisdom that entices us away from the genuine straight and narrow path. We can get lost. The Bible, Church teaching, and the example of some good older people are those markers,
Once upon a time the young new president of a bank made an appointment with his predecessor to seek some advice. “Sir,” he began, “ I wonder if you would kindly share with me some of the insights you have gained from your years here that have been the keys to your success.”
The older man looked at him with a stare and replied: “Young man, two words: good decisions.” The young man responded. “Thank you very much, sir, but how does one come to know which is the good decision?” “One word young man: experience.” “Buy how does one get experience?” “Two words, young man: bad decisions.”
God love you and guide your decisions this week.
Rev. Peterson’s Reading & Gospel Summary
Reading I: 1 Kings 3:5, 7-12
God comes to Solomon in a dream, as He has done for others. Solomon asks the Lord for “an understanding heart,” unlike others who ask for things like long life or wealth. God admires this and so he grants Solomon’s request.
Reading II: Romans 8: 28-30
The predestined are those who are selected by divine adoption. Man is free to reject this choice. But no one is ever predestined for damnation.
The Gospel: Matthew 13: 44-52, or 13: 44-46
Two parables stress the inestimable value of the kingdom of God and therefore surrender to its demands is true wisdom.