Wednesday – 17^th Week in Ordinary Time

Gospel – Matthew 13:44-46

The Treasure Within

Altar Server Training

When I was little, what mattered most to me were my toys – my games, my models, action figures and toy cap guns.  They were my treasures – all those toys waiting for me under the Christmas tree!  As I grew older, things changed.  I met Ginger, we dated, we married!  And Ginger became my treasure!  3 years later, Jaime was born and that little bundle of joy became our treasure!  I began my 40-year career as a teacher, and all those students became my treasure!  Jaime married Josh.  And he became my son, my treasure!  Grandsons followed and Tyler and Nate became my treasure!

Let’s face it!  Many of those ‘treasures’ were never really treasures in the truest sense of the word.  They didn’t last; they focused on the wrong things.  Others, my relationships, my friendships, my loves – they continue to grow and endure!

And yet through all the ups and downs of life, trials and tribulations, sickness and loss and fear of death, separation and distance from friends and family, one treasure has never changed!  I may have misplaced it sometimes, cast it aside in anger sometimes, denied it in the worst of times, took it for granted in offhand moments!  It’s been yelled at, run away from (and toward), tested and often failed at!  And yet it remains!

And that is my faith!

Which leads us to today’s Gospel – the Parable of the Hidden Treasure.  I wonder how often we go looking for the wrong treasure – money, fame, perfect job, dream vacation or home!  We spend so much time and effort searching for a treasure outside of ourselves and we end up missing the treasure that lives deep inside of us – the Gift of Faith!  That gift that energizes us, fills us with strength and vigor, and with hope particularly in times of doubt, fear and despair, times when we believe we are lost and abandoned!

Keep the Faith!  Treasure it!