The pearl of great price: The Eucharist, the child, the poor. Sermon of July 24th

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!

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

July 24^th, 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 4^th 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.

How a rich man is saved, Sermon of October 31st

 31^st Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C.

October 31^st, 2010

Luke 10:1-10

Now a man there named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man, was seeking to see who Jesus was…

Wealthy persons rarely come up in the Gospels, but when they are mentioned they usually do not fair too well. This is particularly true of the Gospel according to St. Luke – we have already heard in recent weeks of the parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus; how the rich man went to hell, since he did not help Lazarus when he was in need.

Just a few verses before today’s Gospel, there is the passage about the rich young man who desired to follow Christ – the Lord told him to sell all his possessions and give his wealth to the poor; but the rich man went away sad, for he was attached to his many possessions. It was on this occasion that Christ said, “It will be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter heaven.” We may sum it all up with the Lord’s own words, “Woe to you who are rich.” Indeed, the rich will hardly be saved.

No, rich men do not usually do too well, when they meet Jesus; and this should be a bit alarming for most of us. Nearly every one of us would be considered rich in the Gospel sense of the word – we have our basic necessities provided for, and we have at least a few luxuries besides.

But St. Luke does not want us to be discouraged, and Jesus wants each and every one of us to know that he loves us. Thus, so that we might not feel dejected, St. Luke includes the account of the conversion of Zacchaeus – and we ought to note that this account is found only in Luke’s Gospel. He puts in there, I think, because he knows that he has been particularly hard on the rich and he doesn’t want us to give up hope.

In the story about Zacchaeus, the first thing we learn about the man, even before we learn that he is short (which is really a bit humorous), the first thing we learn is that he is a chief tax collector (and, thus, very powerful) and that he is wealthy. Before St. Luke tells us anything else, we learn that Zacchaeus is rich and powerful, and so we might be thinking to ourselves, “I know how this story is going to end, Zacchaeus is really going to get it.” But, behold, there is a new twist, something which is quite unexpected – Zacchaeus is not rejected by Christ, nor does he turn away from the Lord, but he is welcomed by our Savior and becomes his disciple.

When Jesus looks up in the tree and sees Zacchaeus, he calls to him and accepts him as a disciple – and we must point out that Zacchaeus was still rich at this time. The Lord called Zacchaeus while he was still rich, and Zacchaeus became a disciple while still wealthy. Here we find a great deal of encouragement – for Jesus looked at Zacchaeus and he did not see a rich man or a tax collector, he saw a son of Abraham, a poor lost sheep in need of a true shepherd. The gaze of our Savior pierces through all that is superficial and penetrates to the core. Perhaps for the first time in his life, someone loved and accepted Zacchaeus for who he was as a human being, rather than for his riches and his power.

So, up till now, we are all very much encouraged; for we know that Christ looks at each of us with that same gaze of love which fell upon Zacchaeus – but though Christ loves us as we are, he calls us forward to be something new; and this is a challenge to us. Zacchaeus is accepted by Christ as a rich man, and the Lord does not even command him to give his possessions to the poor – but Zacchaeus is compelled (not by word or deed, but by love itself) he is compelled to give half of his wealth to the poor. Because he loves Christ, Zacchaeus must also love the poor. The love of Christ, which so fills Zacchaeus, overflows in a love for the poor.

It is the same for us – Christ loves us and that love moves us not only to a true love for him, but also for an intense and even a sacrificial love for the poor. Because the love of Christ is pure, it is also purifying – and thus, the love of Christ compels us to love others even as he has loved us.

I am reminded of the words of Mother Teresa, “Jesus in the Eucharist, Jesus in the poor. It is the same Jesus.” Now Mother Teresa surely knew that Christ is not present in the poor in the same way in which he is present in the Eucharist. He is present in the Eucharist really, truly, substantially, and sacramentally. In the poor, though he is present really and truly, Christ is not present substantially and sacramentally. The mode of presence is clearly different, but the one who is present in the Blessed Sacrament and the one who is present in the poor is the same Jesus.

The Savior is so closely identified with the poor that he can truly say, “Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me.”

May the love of Christ purify and fill us, and may our love for the poor here on earth bring us swiftly to the glories of life everlasting.

Sermon on the rich man and Lazarus, September 26th

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C. September 26th, 2010.
Gospel. Luke 16:19-31, The rich man and Lazarus.

Abraham replied, “My child, remember that you received what was good during your lifetime while Lazarus likewise received what was bad; but now he is comforted here, whereas you are tormented.”

Hell is not a topic many people today are comfortable hearing about. In fact, of all the doctrines of the Catholic faith, hell is certainly one of the most neglected. Perhaps we have never, or hardly ever, heard a homily about hell.
Indeed, we live in a world which denies the existence of hell, a world which refuses to believe that eternal punishment is a real possibility. Perhaps we ourselves can fall to this temptation at times. Even if we do admit the reality of hell, we might be inclined to reserve damnation to a select few, to those particularly horrible sinners – terrible murderers, war criminals, and the like. Hell is for people like them, hell is for monsters.
In doing this we separate ourselves from sinners, we save ourselves from having to confront the judgment of God, we make hell a place for “them” not a reality which has anything to do with “us”. But then we are confronted with a passage like the parable of today’s Gospel.


We hear that there was a rich man and a poor man, and the rich man did not help the poor man. For this sin alone, the rich man was condemned to hell; but the poor man was saved. It strikes me that we know almost nothing at all about the rich man…we do not even know his name. He may have been married, perhaps he was a good father and a good husband. He was most likely an active member of his community. He was certainly a fun guy to be around. We might note with some surprise that he might have even been fairly generous to some poor people – we have no reason to think that he wouldn’t have given to the food bank (or the 1st century equivalent thereof).
All we know about him is that, whatever else he did in his life, he did not help Lazarus. And for this one sin – a sin which cries out to heaven for vengeance – for this one sin he was condemned to the everlasting punishments of hell. He was rich and he refused to relieve the poor man who begged from him. This cost him his salvation.

And I ask, my brothers and sisters, has anything changed in 2000 years? Perhaps this: if the rich man ignored the poor man’s cry, he at least allowed Lazarus to sit and beg at the door. I think it likely that, if a poor man was begging outside our homes day and night, we would probably call the police and have him taken away. If the rich man ignored Lazarus’ cry, we live in a society which systematically suffocates the cry of the poor!
Some day we will all come to understand what our Savior meant when he said, “Blessed are you poor, but woe to you who are rich.”

The poor are God’s gift to us. It is through mercy and charity toward them that we will work out our salvation. Pope John Paul II has said, “It will be necessary above all to abandon a mentality in which the poor – as individuals and as a people – are considered a burden, as irksome intruders trying to consume what others have produced.” Whatever we do to the poor, we do to Christ. And whatever we do not do to the poor, we do not do to Christ.

And so I ask: Without almsgiving, how should we ever inherit life everlasting?