From the Bishop

When you pray, ask the Lord for an understanding heart

Wisdom and responsibility help us better help our communities and those around us

Published: February 21, 2024   

By Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor

Probably all of us have fantasized at one time or another about what we would ask for if we could get anything we wanted. A house we can't presently afford? Some accomplishment? Winning the Little Rock marathon?

Usually, when we engage in such fantasies, we focus on something that we think will lead to an improvement in our own circumstances, for instance, our material well-being and that of our family, or our own security or our own personal success.

In today's first reading from the first book of Kings, Solomon is given the opportunity to ask for whatever he wants most. God says: "Ask something of me and I will give it to you." And Solomon's answer surprises us in two ways: 

1) instead of asking for something that will lead to an improvement in his own personal circumstances, he asks for an understanding heart, and 

2) the reason he requests this is to be able to benefit others: "Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?" He recognizes his responsibility as king and his inability to fulfill this responsibility without God's help. 

Solomon has a lot to teach us today because we too have responsibility toward others — you as wives and mothers; I as bishop. Yet it is often hard to know what to do in the concrete situations we face. 

You wives need an understanding heart when things come up in your marriage. My Dad's premarital advice to my brothers was always, "Be kind, no matter what, be kind!" 

You mothers need an understanding heart to know the right way to deal with each child, given that child's own specific temperament and needs. 

And we clergy need an understanding heart to "govern wisely this vast people of ours!" It is sometimes hard to discern well what is best for others or even for ourselves. So as we begin this conference, let us make this request of Solomon our own: "Give your servant an understanding heart."

Bishop Anthony B. Taylor delivered this homily at the Women of Hope Mass Feb. 3 in Little Rock.

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