Wednesday – 17th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Matthew 13:44-46

My Precious!

Altar of Crucifixion, Church of Holy Sepulchre

I am (no big secret) a huge Lord of the Rings fan.  Give me a completely free day (fat chance) and I will spend it watching the entire trilogy – extended edition of course!  Just last month I got to share the experience with one of my grandsons for the first time!  There are certainly a number of heroic figures in the story.  But I want to focus on one of the more tragic characters – Smeagol/Gollum.  He is so obsessed with possessing the “One Ring” that he murders his own relative to get it.  From that point on, he refers to the ring as ‘my precious.’  While it extends his life, it consumes it as well.  He loses any outward appearance as a human.  His only appetite is for the Ring and he will do anything to keep it! 

Today’s Gospel tells the story of the treasure in the field and the pearl of great price!  In both cases, a man finds it and hides it (so no one else can take it).  He then sells everything he has and buys the field/pearl so that he can possess this precious treasure.  Obviously Gollum takes his desire to an extreme obsession.  Even the man in the Gospel, from a purely human perspective, seems to go overboard in his desire to possess his ‘precious.’

So a simple question for the day!  What in your life do you hold precious?  Your family?  Your children?  Grand kids?  Wife/husband?  That watch/ring handed down for generations?  That happy birthday card from your daughter?  That day you got married or graduated from college or got your first job? 

What about your faith? Your faith in God and your hope for life in the Kingdom?  Where does that rank on your list?  How important is your faith?  How precious?

Whatever your treasure or pearl is, it serves no purpose if you keep it hidden away.  If the field stays un-used or the pearl remains out of sight, what real value do they have?  So too our faith!  Our faith in God and in eternal life needs to be nurtured and shared, not hiding in the shadows.

So the question remains!  How precious is your Faith?  Isn’t it worth sharing?  How will you share it today?

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