Christ Our Eternal Treasure:

Discover Christ, Choose Christ and have Christ as destiny.

This weekend’s readings invite us to reflect on the Kingdom of God and challenge us to go out of our way to enter it. The Kingdom is the place where God’s will is done. It is already present among us; in the sacrifice of the Mass, in a good deed done quietly for another, in service to the poor — and it is also in the future, when the just will enter into the eternal blessedness of God.

Jesus compares the Kingdom to a treasure of immense value hidden in a field. Many people walk through life without ever discovering it: the Eucharist, Scripture, the Church, the poor, and the small daily acts of love. In the first reading, Solomon discovers wisdom and judges it greater than money, power, or long life. Because he sought God first, God gave him wisdom, and more still gave him riches and honor. Jesus echoes this: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Mt 6:33).

We live in a world overflowing with information but often starving for wisdom. Technology teaches us how to do things. Wisdom teaches us whether we should do them. Education can make us intelligent. Only God can form wise hearts. Today many know how to build a career but not a family. Many know how to gain followers online but not how to keep faithful friends. As St. Augustine observed: "It is not the acquisition of many things, but the possession of God, that makes one rich." Our greatest treasure is not what we own, but whom we know and love.

Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that Christianity begins not with rules, but with a relationship. Not with an idea, but with Jesus. I recall a little boy who asked his grandfather, “Grandpa, why do you always kneel before entering your pew?” The old man smiled, “Because before I greet anyone else, I want to greet Jesus.” That child never forgot. His grandfather had discovered the hidden treasure.

The Gospel presents to us two men who find treasures; one by surprise, the other by searching and both sell everything to buy them. Every follower of Jesus comes to that moment. Faith is dynamic. A well-formed faith helps us make daily informed wise choices: truth over convenience, forgiveness over resentment, honesty over shortcuts, family over excessive ambition, prayer over endless distraction. As St. John Paul II told young people: “It is Jesus whom you seek when you dream of happiness.”

The third parable of the net shows the three stages of Christian life: first we discover Christ, then we choose Him, and finally we let Him become our destiny. This is lived out in priesthood, religious life, marriage, and friendship; love proven by remaining faithful. St. Paul assures us that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28), not because life is easy, but because God is faithful. St. Teresa of Calcutta adds: “Be faithful in small things, for it is in them that your strength lies.”

An elderly couple celebrated seventy years of marriage. Someone asked, "How did you stay together so long?" The husband smiled. "We belonged to a generation that repaired things instead of replacing them." The same is true of discipleship. When faith becomes difficult, we repair it through prayer. When relationships break, we repair them through forgiveness. When hope fades, we repair it through trust. That is remaining in Christ.

Dear parishioners, choosing Jesus always pays off. May we, like Solomon, discover our treasure in God. May we, like the merchants, choose Him above all else. And may we, like faithful disciples, keep Him as our eternal destiny. Amen.