The parables, finding the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price, have three distinct moments: finding, then selling and then buying. In both parables, something very very precious is found, something so important, so valuable is found. And so much so that sometimes by accident like the guy who finds a treasure in a field but sometimes after a longer searching like a merchant looking for pearls. Finding that these are so valuable, in joy, both go and sell everything they have in order to buy the field and the pearl of great price.
Like us religious especially at one point in our lives we discovered that the value of the Lord was the most important and most valuable thing in our lives and so in joy, I think, we went and sold everything — we gave up our families, we gave up family life, we gave up our careers and we “bought” religious life. We committed ourselves to religious life.
The more I think about it, the real challenge is what at one point seemed so important, sometimes we find it less important or see it less important. At least that’s what I’ve seen. I’m reading a very good book by Miraslov Volf. The title of the book is called, “Life Worth Living”. It’s based on a course he and others give to undergraduates to help them discover what matters most in life. It’s a course that helps people discover what makes a human life worth living, what makes a life truly human, what matters most. Because you can succeed professionally and still be a failure as a human being. Early in the book there was an example about Albert Speer, the architect of Hitler who ended up building concentration camps and the gas chambers. He wanted really to be a great architect and in the end he became a great architect but he was a failure as a human being. But at the end of the book, Volf says that for most of us the problem is not that we’re going to live evil lives, that’s still a possibility. It’s a possibility that we choose wrongly; we betray our humanity by living evil lives. But what struck me most was, for most of us, the problem is, the temptation is to live trivial ives.
We may have seen what mattered most at one point and then there are forces in our culture that made us forget what matters most and to start living trivially not exactly betray our humanity but to give up on our potential as human beings. And he said that there are two temptations to trivial lives. First is what we see all around us — advertising, the media — everything dresses up unimportant things that they conceal much more important ones. So we might say, “I really want to serve God and my neighbors but when I look at my time and where I spent my money on, I discover that my priority might not be that. I might see that appearance is more important or entertainment is more important, or fame is more important, or titles and positions.” Our culture dresses up all these things that make them seem so important so we can get distracted to run after those things and at the end we find the life we live is hollow.
The other temptation to triviality is to think of our lives as trivial. We say, “The world is so big, how do I count? What I do, what I decide, what does it do to many? Who am I? I can’t do anything.” And so the temptation is to believe that our lives are really not that important. Maybe we’re not a separate greatness, maybe we’re not the most important in this world but we count. The way we live our lives, the decisions we make, the way we treat others, make a difference maybe not for the whole world but for the people we live with, the people who are entrusted to us.
I think the invitation of the Gospel is to not allow ourselves to be tempted to live trivial lives and to try to focus on what matters most — the treasure in the field, the pearl of great price. Whatever that is to us.
There are moments when we see so clearly what matters most often during retreats. I just finished my retreat in Baguio last week and I realized so many of the things I am concerned about — my appearance, aging, health, achievements, comparing myself with others, titles, positions — all of those are unimportant. But there was a moment that God made it clear to me that what matters most to me, especially at this stage of my life, is to live as a beloved child of God and to live the example of Jesus. It was so clear to me…then I went down the mountain… 😉
Let me just end by reading a section from the book which I found very helpful:
“𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙜𝙞𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙩. 𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙡𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙬𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙤𝙬 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙪𝙥. 𝙐𝙣𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙗𝙚 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧.
𝙎𝙤 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩. 𝘾𝙖𝙧𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙀𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙤𝙞𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙨. 𝙇𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙜𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙙𝙞𝙚 𝙙𝙤𝙬𝙣. 𝙍𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙙𝙖𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙬𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙛𝙚𝙬 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚’𝙨 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣, 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝘿𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙖 𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙘 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙫𝙖𝙡𝙪𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩.”
“𝙄𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪’𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚, 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣—𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩. 𝙀𝙭𝙘𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙞𝙩. 𝘽𝙪𝙞𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙚𝙨𝙨 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙡𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚. 𝘽𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙤 𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙖𝙨𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙖𝙨 𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚. 𝙆𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙥𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩. 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙝 𝙞𝙩.”
The homily delivered by Fr. Danny Huang, SJ (transcribed with permission)
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
29 July 2023