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| St. Anthony of Egypt sold all he had, entered the desert, and endured every trial with joy - he had found the pearl of great price! |
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time,
Year A
July 24th, 2011
Matthew 13:44-52
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure
buried in a field which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and
sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he
goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
When we hear the
parables of the treasure and of the pearl, and learn how we are to be ready to
sacrifice all things for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, we may recall the memory of St. Anthony of
the Desert – the Father of Monasticism, who lived at the turn of the 4th
century.
St. Anthony was only a young man, about
18 years old, when his
parents both died and he was left an orphan. Wondering what the good Lord
desired of him, he felt inspired to go to the church. Upon entering, Anthony
heard the words of St. Matthew’s Gospel being proclaimed: If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor,
and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me.
The young St. Anthony was deeply moved by
these words and felt inspired to give generously to the poor. You see, his family had been very
wealthy, so he sold a good portion of his inheritance and gave it to the poor.
However, he did
not give everything away – perhaps he was thinking, “Lord, if you are really
serious, if you want me to give over everything; you are ‘gonna have to say it
directly!”
[those, of
course, are my own words … I doubt St. Anthony would have put it quite that
way!] J
Shortly
thereafter, Anthony again entered the Church and heard the words of St. Luke’s
Gospel: Take nothing for your journey;
neither staff, nor scrip, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats.
Deeply moved by the Holy Spirit, St.
Anthony immediately went forth, sold what little inheritance was left to him, and
gave the money to the poor.
Then, this heroic soldier of Christ, left the world and entered the desert as a hermit. There he would remain for nearly
100 years!
Many people came
to St. Anthony to seek his counsel, and he ultimately founded the first
monasteries in the history of the Church. Was
it easy? Of course it wasn’t easy! He lived in the desert of Egypt! It was
very hard, he suffered much, he was bothered by all sorts of crazy people
coming and pestering him. And, on top of all that, he suffered terribly from
the attacks of demons!
But St. Anthony persevered through all of
this because he was filled with a profound spirit of joy. He had found that treasure, he had taken
possession of the pearl – having left all things, he obtained the Kingdom.
Now, most of us
are not called to seek the pearl and the treasure out in the desert. Surely,
some here are called in this way – there are likely some among our young men
and women who are called to leave all and follow God through the vocation to
the religious life or to the priesthood. But most of us will search for the treasure in the ordinary circumstances
of daily life. Where then shall we find the Kingdom in midst of the world?
I want to point
out three places where we find the treasure, where we gain that pearl – and these
are three occasions which are common and ordinary.
First, we find
the treasure in the Sunday Mass. If the
Eucharist isn’t the pearl of great price, I don’t know what is! It is at
the Mass that we gain the riches of everlasting life. Here, in our Sunday
worship, we store up treasures in heaven.
How valuable the Mass is! There is nothing more important in our
week than Sunday Mass
In fact, Sunday
Mass (or Mass on Saturday evening) is so valuable … why, it’s even more
important than hunting and fishing season! J
The Eucharist is
so important, that we wouldn’t ever want to miss it or skip out on the Mass in
order to fish or hunt. If we truly understood the value of the Mass and the
Gift that we receive, we would never
skip Mass – not for travel, not for vacation, not for games.
Remember, this
isn’t just about an obligation (though, it is an obligation); we are talking
about the treasure and about the pearl – we have found the Kingdom, be filled
with joy and give all things in order to attend Sunday Mass every week without
exception.
Second, we find
the pear of great price in all the good things that God has in store for
marriage and family life. If the child
isn’t the pear, I don’t know what is! The gift of the child, how could we
ever reject the child?!
And yet, far too
often, many people (and even many Catholics) refuse to accept the gift of
children. Using artificial means of regulating fertility is like finding the
treasure and abandoning it. If we knew the gift of the child, we would never
use birth control. A nation which uses
contraception is a nation which has rejected the child.
God wants us to
trust in him! Will it be hard? Of course
it will be hard! Remember, Anthony was in the desert for 100 years; it wasn’t
easy, but he was joyful. So too, we also
must be joyful – consider the gift of the child and the grace of God who
will always provide for us, if only we trust in him.
The way to space
out children and to be responsible in parenting is to use Natural Family
Planning, not contraception. Natural
Family Planning is the great means for parents to find the treasure of the
Kingdom and to receive God’s plan for their family with joy.
Third, we find
the treasure in being generous to the poor. The poor are that treasure hidden in society, neglected and ignored by
so many. If we cannot see that the poor are that pearl, then we have missed
Christ who is present to us through them.
The US Dollar is
losing strength every day – I hear that it is worth less even than the Canadian
Dollar. You may as well give your money
to the poor before it is worth nothing at all! J
Mercy covers a
multitude of sins, and those who are generous to the poor are the true friends
of God.
Finally, if we
really believe that these three – the Mass, the child, and the poor – truly are
the pearl and the treasure, then we
ought to be filled with joy! Here is our means of attaining to the Kingdom
of God, which is worth more than any passing treasures of earth; let us
sacrifice all our self-love, all our selfishness, all our distrust. You will lose nothing, but you gain
everything! And, consumed with the joy of God’s Kingdom, we should be bold in speaking of these
things with others.
If we believe
that the Eucharist is the great Gift that it is, we will try to bring fallen-away Catholic back to Mass. If we know
that the child is a pearl given us by the Lord, we will not be afraid to
proclaim the truth about marriage and family, and to encourage others to use Natural Family Planning [and parents and grandparents have a special
obligation to explain this to their children]. Finally, if we know that the
downtrodden are that true treasure, we will
not be ashamed to defend the poor and to be a witness of God’s preferential
love for them.
Be joyful! Though these pearls and treasures may
only be obtained through much sacrifice, if only you preserver in God’s love,
you shall soon attain to life everlasting.
