How would you use it...what would you do differently within your life with this newfound wealth? Would you share it with friends and family, would you even tell them? Would you use it to help the poor and less fortunate?
But if the great treasure we stumbled across was not a buried chest of gold, or a pearl of great price but rather, the great treasure was the promise of eternal life, the Reign of God!
This is exactly what Jesus is challenging us to do — to think of how different our lives would be if we “lived” in the Reign of God...all the time, not just on Sunday while we are at Mass — every day, all the time!
Usually when we think of finding a treasure we immediately think of financial gain and how that would change our lives and the lives of our family. But in this case, we are challenged to think about how our lives would change from the point of view of how we love one another, how we care for each other...how we live the Gospel in our day to day lives. How we impact the lives of others, for the better.
Finding and falling in love with the Reign of God is the whole point of the parables we hear today. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, the former Superior General of the Jesuits, once wrote: “Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart and what amazes you with joy and gratitude. Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything”.
Blessings,
Fr Tim