The TREASURE and the PEARL

Matthew 13: 44-46

The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. Having discovered it, a man hides it again; then, full of joy he goes and sells everything he owns, and then he buys that field.

The Kingdom of heaven is also like a dealer in search of pearls. Having found a particularly valuable one, he went, sold everything he had, and then bought it.

To discover Jesus is to discover a treasure. This is what two categories of people tell us, the converts and the saints. The converts, because their painful quest for the Absolute, their lengthy wanderings through the night of despairing nonsense or of sin so terribly monotonous have emerged into an unexpected dawn - unexpected and all the more astounding for that very reason. The saints, because their unqualified option in favor of God enables them to progress day by day in an ocean of love which elates them and at the same time fills them with a sweet torment beside which human joys appear as laughable trinkets.

Nil Guillemette, SJ
PARABLES for TODAY

The treasure is the relationship with God revealed and expressed in community of believers, between God and God's people, the presence of Jesus in the community. We really must do what we say:"may your kingdom come, may your will be done on earth as it already is in heaven." God's will - "I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness" (John 10:10).

Megan McKenna
PARABLES
The Arrow of God