Treasure in the Field...

/ have found the treasure in the field ... but have I sold everything else in it's favor, i.e. am I TOTALLY of the Institute or still toying with other devotions?



July 24 - XVII Sunday in Ordinary Time


St. Matthew does it again! He give us not one but three ways of seeing his teaching - or, better, the teaching of our Divine Master.


"Treasure buried in a field . . ." What might that mean? Well, apparently, it makes good sense. Palestinian houses did not have very thick walls and a thief could easily "break through and steal." The remedy was to take one's valuables and bury them in a secret spot. All well and good and, presumably, the burial was done at night but this had the disadvantage that a) someone might be quietly observing the interment or b) the one doing the burial might in the light of day not be quite sure where he had dug the hole or c) in times of persecution or for other reasons be driven out of his homes and often never returnor, if he did, could not find his property. Not to mention that someone else might find the treasure by accident and then (as the Gospel tells us)"he sells all he has and buys that field." So there were problems even then with banking!


And now, to get back to the First Reading and the real message of this Sunday: the young Solomon has worked hard to carry out the commands of God and God is pleased and asks him what reward he would like. Solomon with great maturity and judgment asks for the wisdom to govern the people properly arid God is even more pleased. So edifying is this Reading that we don't want to think ahead and recall that poor Solomon in his older years, and in spite of his vast wisdom, yielded to the temptation of pagan women and ended his days under a cloud - to say the least. But this is to anticipate. For now we see that the Responsorial Psalm reads like something the young Solomon might have said in response to the Lord's warm commendation. "Lord, I love your commands." Don't we all . . . and yet the cedars of Lebanon have come crashing down all over the Church in recent decades, good men who in their youth had nothing only the best intentions and wanted nothing more than to serve God and serve their people. Let us pray for them and especially for those who have entered eternal life.


The key to the Second Reading is partly in the first line: "All things work for good for those who love God." But only partly because we must also be "called according to His purpose etc."


Here we see Paul underlining the supreme freedom of God in creating all of us and in calling us - in particular calling us Catholics and, in more detail, us Institute people. It is very easy to see our life as something which had to be . . . but for God nothing "has to be." He and He alone made us what we are.


Finally, the Gospel makes the point that anything that is not God or related to Him must be jettisoned at any cost so as to obtain and enjoy "the pearl of great price." Our exam should always include the question: have I found the treasure in the field (or the pearl) but am reluctant to abandon everything in its favor - in our case the "pearl" is the Institute.


In 1992, following a meeting of the Synod of Bishops, the Holy Father issued an Apostolic Exhortation PASTORES DABO VOBIS ("I will give you shepherds after my own heart" (Jer.3:15). Though he is speaking of vocations to the priesthood, much of what he says applies to us also as these excerpts will show.