17th Sunday of the year a

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There are many different themes in this Gospel today and it will be impossible to really share them all with you today but I want to focus on and explore the first small parable the Parable of the treasure in the field. When reading this particular parable I asked myself some questions which I would like to share with you and the thoughts that I had about it. My first question is what is the treasure?

We could see that the Treasure is the presence of God within.  We know that God is always with us through the good times and bad times. But just like treasure it does sometimes take a long time to find it. We search and search we look but we do not find him. We are like those beach comers who try our best to find that hidden treasure but we get frustrated because it is well hidden. So how do we awaken the treasure within?

The first thing is to discover ourselves and what our own gifts and talents are what is our treasure what can we give that helps the Kingdom of God to grow and flourish.  When we have found that treasure then we need to use it for the glory of God. We need to use it. The other way that we can do this is by prayer. We discover God in the silence and the peace of our hearts allowing God to speak to us.

The other thing that we need to realise is that the treasure ultimately is our selves and how we might be able to help in bringing the Kingdom of God here on earth. I learnt this many years ago when I was working with the Homeless. I as a young 18 year old wondered what I could give to the homeless where I was working. I hated it for a long time then I realised through the help of others around me that all I could give was myself the gifts and treasure that God had given me. As soon as I realised this I became a lot happier in my work. We need to continue always to discover the treasure that is deep within.

When we look at the Story of the Dragnet we could see this as an image of the Church as it goes into the sea and brings up many kinds of things. These things are us all different shapes and sizes and ages making up the universal Church and giving it life. We are those shapes and sizes we in our brokenness make up the universal Church. But, yet often we feel that we are not worthy and that we have to be saints in order to enjoy the love of God. This is so far from the truth Oscar Wilde once said “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” The Pope reminded the young people when he was here last year that we all have the potential to be saints.  We need to acknowledge that we who are sinners have the potential to be saints each and every one of us. Pope Bendict went on to say this to the young people and can also be a word of encouragement for us as we seek our treasure it can only be sort through the love of God:

 “Not only does God love us with a depth and an intensity that we can scarcely begin to comprehend, but he invites us to respond to that love. You all know what it is like when you meet someone interesting and attractive, and you want to be that person’s friend. You always hope they will find you interesting and attractive, and want to be your friend. God wants your friendship. And once you enter into friendship with God, everything in your life begins to change.” 

Comments

Anne Chapman said…
I like your homily, its strange but as I read it I could hear your voice speaking! Keep up the great work!
25 July 2011 at 10:36
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