17th Wednesday "Pearl of Great Price"

 The laborer in the first parable of today’s gospel reading was paid to dig up someone’s field, when suddenly he hit upon buried treasure. He sold the little he had to buy the field and gain that unexpected treasure.

Sometimes we can stumble upon something of great value even though we were not looking for it. When I was a young boy about the age of 5, I found an Indian head penny by the house. The penny was really old. I believe the date on the penny was 1884. I don’t recall exactly how much, but think that one little penny was worth about $5. I saved that penny for years. It was like a treasure to me. Eventually, when I became older, I realized its only money and so I just gave it away. While money is important, it’s a whole lot more important to do something nice for others.

Jesus seems to say that the kingdom of God is like the treasure that is found. The Lord suddenly blesses us at a moment in life when we are least expecting it, as happened to the poor day laborer and happened to me when I found that penny.

With regard to spiritual things. What do you think is the treasure that we should always keep? What do you think is the pearl of great price, that we should never lose?

The greatest treasure we have as Catholics is our faith. Our faith tells us Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. Our faith tells us Jesus is with us through all 7 sacraments. The greatest of all sacraments is the Holy Eucharist because the Eucharist is Jesus Himself. Only the Catholic Church has Jesus really and truly present in the Eucharist. Some other churches have communion services, but only the Catholic Church believes the bread is totally changed into Jesus. As Catholics we pray to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the saints. Our faith is summed up in a book called the Catechism of the Catholic Church. And all that is in the Catechism is the pearl of great price.

Many people give up everything to become Catholic because they discover all that we believe is the great treasure. Some have had to give up everything for it. Some people have had to change jobs, sell their house because when they became Catholic, they were persecuted for their faith. But they didn’t care, because they found the greatest of all treasures, which will help them to get to heaven. Today, let us thank Jesus for out Catholic faith, and let us do everything we can so that we will never lose it. May the Virgin Mary, help us to grow in our faith and to love our faith and treasure our faith, because our faith bring us into the kingdom of heaven.