Finding the Treasure

I wonder what our image of God is? Do we see God as a Judge, or as a loving Father or as a man with a long white beard, or someone to tell us off at all different times. Julian of Norwich one of the mystics of the middle ages saw God as Mother for she saw God as genderless. What ever our image and all of them are correct because our experience of God is very personal to us. Our search as human beings is a search for God. Phycologists talk about having a God gene where we have a natural desire to find a higher being our desire is for God and our desire is to find him.  When we have found God in our lives we then want to spend time and will do anything to be their. This is the experience of the Gospel parable their desire for God was they had to sell everything to be in the presence of God. 

The parables in the Gospel today tell us of people who have been searching and in there search have found something very precious they have found God himself. In that desire for God they have to give up everything to then to get it for themselves. Our life is about searching for God and the way that we get to know something about God is through the person of Jesus. In our search we come across many stumbling blocks and sometimes find it hard to give up the so called treasures of this world. But, notice that the person sold everything he had to get the field. He did not give half keeping the other half for himself no he gave his whole self no matter what the cost he did not compromise. 

In our following of Jesus need to give up everything that bars us from knowing him better from being with him. This is a life long commitment and challenge every day. It takes a discerning heart to recognise when we go astray or when we are not following Jesus as he wants us to so. This takes also courage especially in the world today it means that sometimes we will stand alone against the tied of popular culture.

When we have truly found God and welcomed him into our lives then we want always to be with him we search and we have found him because he was waiting for us. I still find myself holding something back. What is that treasure then. It is God’s love for us that is the treasure that we find. This week we celebrate the feast day of St John Mary Vianney who is patron Saint of parish priests he said that we would weep everyday for joy if we knew the full extent of his Love for us. 

So I invite you to look into your hearts and find the person of Jesus to ask the question how important is he in my life, am I a half hearted follower or do I give of my very self. It is a challenge for all of us. It is something that we all are trying to do everyday as I said we stumble and get sucked in to the world but we must focus on striving for that treasure of God’s love and truly becoming a disciple of Jesus. 

So if we take the last few weeks of parables how we do this is in what Jesus tells us. Lets re cap. We accept the word of God in our hearts we listen with both ears to the word of God and what Jesus is saying to us in prayer. We Read Scripture and the tradition of the Church we learn.  We become beckons in the world for people to know Jesus through us and then we give up all worldly desires to follow the Lord in love recognising that treasure that we desire. And then we live in freedom. If it seems hard, thats because it is but when we have found it when we have found him it is so worth it. Let us encourage each other support each other challenge each other in this life long task so we may truly understand that treasure of the Kingdom of God love for us.