An old Jewish folktale tells of how once there were two young brothers who had spent all their lives in the city, and had never even seen a field or pasture. So, one day they decided to take a trip into the countryside. As they were walking along, they spied a farmer plowing, and were puzzled about what he was doing. “What kind of behavior is this?” they asked themselves. “This fellow marches back and forth all day, scarring the earth with long ditches. Why should anyone destroy such a pretty meadow like that?”

Later in the afternoon they passed the same place again, and this time they saw the farmer sowing grains of wheat in the furrows. “Now what’s he doing?” they asked themselves. “He must be a madman. He’s taking perfectly good wheat and tossing it into these ditches!” “The country is no place for me,” said one of the brothers. “The people here act as if they had no sense. I’m going home.” And he went back to the city.

But the second brother stayed in the country, and a few weeks later saw a wonderful change. Fresh green shoots began to cover the field with lushness he had never imagined. He quickly wrote to his brother and told him to hurry back to see the miraculous growth. So, his brother returned from the city, and he too was amazed at the change. As the days passed, they saw the green earth turn into a golden field of tall wheat. And now they understood the reason for the farmer’s work.

Then the wheat grew ripe, and the farmer came with his scythe and began to cut it down. The brother who had returned from the city couldn’t believe it. “What is this imbecile doing now?” he exclaimed. “All summer long he worked so hard to grow this beautiful wheat, and now he’s destroying it with his own hands! He is a madman after all. I’ve had enough. I’m going back to the city.”

But his brother had more patience. He stayed in the country and watched the farmer collect the wheat and take it to his granary. He saw how cleverly he separated the chaff, and how carefully he stored the rest. And he was filled with awe when he realized that by sowing a bag of seed, the farmer had harvested a whole field of grain. Only then did he truly understand that the farmer had a reason for everything that he did. “And this how it is with God’s works, too,” he said. “We mortals only see the beginnings of his plan. We cannot understand the full purpose and end of His creation. So, we must have faith in His wisdom.”

As we heard in last week’s Gospel, Jesus reminds us to be patient as the weeds grow in the wheat, and how sometimes even though we don’t always see it the weeds may not always be a bad thing making us stronger or giving us wisdom.

In this week’s readings, Solomon asks for wisdom and understanding, and we have Jesus again giving us parables, featuring the one of the merchants searching for pearls.

As our lives go on, like the patient brother we need the same thing. We may not see God’s plan or understand it fully, but we will in time. Like Solomon, we gain wisdom through prayer but also through deepening our understanding of the faith. Doing this requires persistence and patience, for just as it took time for the merchant to find the pearls, learning our faith, learning about God – and what God wants for us – takes time. We might not understand things at the time, such as why things happen as they do, or what God wants for us, or even understand certain parts of our faith – but on our part may we keep the search going throughout our lives making matter always a matter of the faith and heart.

Ultimately at the end of his life Solomon lost his wisdom – so for us just because we don’t find the treasure right away or understand everything, hopefully every time we pray or come to Mass we realize that God is with us every step of the way, and live our lives coming to truly know Him and understand Him more deeply.

God bless,

Fr. Paul

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July 26, 2026