by Father James Rodriguez

Sometimes a change in perspective makes all the difference. I love looking at the ocean, where the horizon appears to be the edge of the world. It seems impossible that there could be anything beyond it, though I know that from a higher vantage point I would see things differently; I would see so much more.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus continues to describe the kingdom of God to the disciples, challenging them to adopt a God’s-eye view. When we’re able to see what he wants for us and to want it ourselves, nothing is more beautiful.

All too often, we settle for what we think is best for us, and it can be upsetting when we feel his call to let it go. When we allow ourselves to be like fish caught in his great net, our life takes on a new vibrancy, a new glow. Like all light, his presence reveals our shadows as well, and he helps us be like the fishermen in the parable: “What is bad they throw away.” The “pearl of great price” is expensive indeed, costing us the unhealthy attachments that we value so much, yet when we trust in this radical way, the reward is too precious to describe in words.

St. Paul was a man of perspective. We know his beginnings and how God turned his world upside down, restoring his physical sight and endowing him with the holy insight that is far greater. In today’s section of his Letter to the Romans, he points to the long view of God using a word that is sometimes taken out of context and misunderstood. When St. Paul speaks of predestination, he is not referring to the false doctrine that we are saved or condemned regardless of our choices, but that God has chosen us — all of us — to be his own if we so choose. He destined us from the beginning to be with him forever, but he never forces this — even this — on us. It is one of the least appreciated signs of his love for us, the freedom he gave us to choose or reject him.

Solomon’s wise choice in today’s first reading finds an echo in the Psalm, possibly written by his father, King David. With him, we repeat “Lord, I love your commands.” The royal father and son both found their true Father and King in God, whose demanding law is not oppressive to those who love him, for it is a sign of his fatherly love. When we choose to be selfish, to reject his law, we are not merely breaking some arbitrary rule but rather actively choosing against our own happiness. It never works, but we keep trying anyway.

Instead, let us ask God, like young Solomon, for wisdom. Don’t be afraid to take the big swing like he did, to humbly ask God for that which we could never attain on our own. Then be bold and ask for more. Ask for that Wisdom which is not constrained to proverbs and psalms, but is made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

There is no greater wisdom than the One for Whom the angels sang at his birth.

May we join in their triumphant song, swept up in that great chorus of love with angelic perspective.

Father James Rodriguez is the pastor of St. Rose of Lima Church in Rockaway Beach.