A Sunday Reflection

Joy & Treasure

Does finding the Treasure give us Joy?
     Or might our Joy help us find the treasure?
Have you got something that is very precious to you? 
It might be something that isn’t very important to anyone else, but is very special to you. Maybe it is something you would grab in a house fire, or flood. Would you be willing to give it away or swap it?  In the Gospel Jesus tells us that God’s kingdom is like a priceless treasure that one would give their most precious possession for. God’s kingdom begins here and now, in this life. 
It is not simply something in the Future - on the other side of death. Deacon Robert and his wife Gabrielle tell me that Fr. Bob McDougall s.j. was fond of saying that the Kingdom is not just Pie in the Sky after you Die, but it is Steak on the Plate while we wait! God, the Lord of all creation, is always present to His creation. Often it is us - the creatures who are not present to God! 

This is quite evident - when we see the horrible suffering inflicted on Christians & other minorities in Iraq and Syria;   
   Seeing the fighting and killing in Israel and Gaza; 
      When we hear of planes shot down over Ukraine.
Yet it is just as apparent when we are unkind to each other: when we select the bad over the good because it is ‘popular’ or is ‘socially acceptable’ to do so.
The Kingdom of God, the Reign of Heaven is here and now.

When we have a true and deep encounter with God - that is a Real Treasure! no matter if that authentic experience of God is:

• Found in nature / in a time in the wilderness, or the beaty of a sunset;
• Or found in a time of quiet Prayer, experience a deep presence of God;
• Or in singing a song - and being surrounded by others singing praise to God and being in utter communion;
• Or in the mystery of Love - in a Husband and Wife, in the joy of the birth of a new child - realizing the Joy of Family

We often would give up everything in that moment to remain there – to have & keep that ‘treasure’. Yet we will all face the Cross. and for us the image of the middle parable in today's set of three parables can give us consolation. The pearl of great value - of great price.

Pearls, of course, are not created in a vacuum. They are born from friction, hardship. Out of that struggle comes a miracle: a jewel of profound simplicity and humbling beauty, our Joy – The Joy of the Gospel – enables us to bear our cross / to hope thru suffering and to allow God to bring forth the K of G here and now - this beautiful Pearl.

Peace