Readings: 1 Kings 3:5,7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew: 13:44-52
Theme: Hidden treasure
By Michael McCabe, SMA
A few years ago I came across a fable that may help us to reflect on today’s gospel:
One day God decided to launch a treasure hunt on earth. So he called his angels and gave them a priceless treasure to bring to earth, instructing them to hide it so that people would have to search for it and might have the joy of finding it. ‘Shall we hide it on the highest mountain, the angels asked. ‘No’, answered God, ‘because only the fittest and healthiest could climb that mountain and the weak would have no chance’. Again the angels asked: ‘Shall we put it on the furthest shores of the ocean’. ‘No’, answered God, ‘because only the rich people could afford to travel so far and the poor would have no chance.’ ‘Where then shall we put it?’ the angels asked. ‘Put it within reach of everybody, rich or poor, healthy or weak. Plant it in the centre of their beings. Hide it in their hearts.’
We are all treasure hunters. We seek the ‘pearl of great price’, the one thing that will answer our deepest yearning and make us truly happy. The problem is that we spend a lot of time looking for it in the wrong places – outside ourselves – and end up frustrated. The treasure we seek is the presence of God for which our hearts were made. In his famous autobiography, Confessions, St Augustine writes movingly about his own experience of seeking, and finally discovering, this divine treasure. After a long and fruitless search for this treasure outside himself in the many wonderful works of creation, he finally discovered it in the depths of his own heart. He expressed his joy in discovering this treasure in these memorable words: ‘Late have I loved you, o beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you.’
The quest for the divine treasure was the great passion that dominated the life of the nineteenth century English poet and mystic, Francis Thompson. He had become a destitute opium addict, begging on the streets of London when he discovered the presence of God in his own heart. His poem, In no Strange Land, reflects this discovery and reminds us that the divine presence is closer to us than we are to ourselves. I quote a few lines from this beautiful poem:
Does the fish soar to find the ocean,
The eagle plunge to find the air—
That we ask of the stars in motion
If they have rumour of thee there?
Not where the wheeling systems darken,
And our benumbed conceiving soars!—
The drift of pinions, would we hearken,
Beats at our own clay-shuttered doors.
Today’s gospel invites us to hearken to the divine presence in our hearts. It is there we will find the hidden treasure we seek, the priceless pearl for which we must give up all we possess. Yes, there is a price to be paid for this divine treasure. We have to make choices, to let go of the things that distract us from the quest – things we foolishly imagine will make us happy, such as power, or wealth, or success. Like Solomon in our first reading today we need ‘a discerning heart’ to keep us on the right path, the path that leads us to the secret treasure hidden by the angels.
For the faithful people of Israel, God’s Law was a sure roadmap to discovering this treasure. Hence, they were accustomed to pray in the fervent words of today’s responsorial psalm: ‘The law from your mouth means more to me than silver and gold… That is why I love your commands more than finest gold’ (Ps 118:72,127) As disciples of Christ, however, we rely, not so much on the Law, but on God’s loving design for us in Christ. As St Paul reminds us in our second reading, ‘We know that by turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers and sisters’ (Romans 8:28-29).
Our fundamental calling is to become images of Christ, and this is the priceless treasure we must pursue at all costs. So, let us pray that we may never lose sight of the treasure God has planted in our hearts, that we will continue to grow into the image of Christ, his Son, and so share the glory for which he has destined us. Amen.
Listen to an alternative audio Homily by Tom Casey, SMA: