Gospel according to Saint Matthew 13,44-52:

Jesus said to the crowds: «The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. The one who finds it buries it again; and so happy is he, that he goes and sells everything he has, in order to buy that field.

»Again the kingdom of heaven is like a trader who is looking for fine pearls. Once he has found a pearl of exceptional quality, he goes away, sells everything he has and buys it.

»Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a big fishing net let down into the sea, in which every kind of fish has been caught. When the net is full, it is dragged ashore. Then they sit down and gather the good fish in buckets, but throw the worthless ones away. That is how it will be at the end of time; the angels will go out to separate the wicked from the just and throw them into the blazing furnace, where they will weep and gnash their teeth».

Jesus asked, «Have you understood all these things?» «Yes», they answered. So he said to them, «You will see that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple of the Kingdom is like a householder who can produce from his store things both new and old».

The treasure, the pearl and the mermaid

Luis CASASUS President of the Idente Missionaries

Rome, July 30, 2023 | XVII Sunday in Ordinary Time

1Kings 3,5.7-12; Rom 8,28-30; Mt 13,44-52

1. The parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl are so brief that it might seem that their meaning is already known and somewhat generic: “the kingdom of heaven is very precious”. However, beyond the parable of the Sower, which the Gospel reminded us of a week ago, they teach us something very intimate and precise about the human being: the dynamics of self-denial, of abnegation, of denying oneself.

This is so essential that our Father Founder taught us from the beginning that the maximum effort of our ascetical prayer is not limited to practicing a mental Recollection and a Quietness of the will, but to live in a state of abnegation. But he has taught it to us in a way that is as concise as it is clear: abnegation is the last degree (let us call it that) of the Purificative Union. Simply because Christ revolutionizes our way of seeing things. We think that we must purify ourselves in order to unite with God. And this is true, but the important thing is that we purify ourselves as we unite ourselves to Him. And this is done through acts of abnegation.

A turbulent and sensitive soul like that of Oscar Wilde understood this very well. We quote again this writer (1854-1900), who wrote a short story entitled The Fisherman and his Soul, where he specifically deals with the purifying power of true love.

It is the story of a young fisherman who, on one occasion, after having cast his nets into the sea, had not even the slightest suspicion that he had caught a mermaid. It was a great surprise, he was fascinated by her beauty and her songs… which attracted hundreds of fish to his nets. In order to be able to share his life with her, deep in the sea, he decides to sell his soul, which was a necessary condition to join a mermaid.

But the soul does not leave the fisherman alone, and tries by all means to tempt him in order to return to his body. Far from his mermaid, he becomes very susceptible to all kinds of temptations. So, finally, the soul returns to the fisherman’s body, making him leave the sea and abandon his mermaid. In revenge, the betrayed soul forces the fisherman to do the cruelest and evil things.

Despite the young man’s efforts to get rid of his soul again, he does not succeed, and when he returns to the sea from which he left, he finds his beloved mermaid dead on the shore. So great was his love, now free of his desires for pleasure and money, that he plunges into the sea and dies with her.

Yes, indeed, this change happens in us, in a sublime way, in our relationship with the Divine Persons. As Jesus says in the two parables we are commenting on, each act, each effort to unite ourselves to his will, changes our soul and makes it truly purer, more distant from the things of the world, from the devil and from the flesh.

To achieve a fuller love, more valuable with the divine will, we have to abandon not only our dominant vices, but smaller pearls, perhaps good deeds with which we feel happy, at ease, satisfied to put our talents into practice… God calls us to acts of mercy in which we leave our life, our soul, our expectations, but we have the opportunity to give testimony of the powerful presence of God in our fragile existence. But this is so because purification not only frees us from concupiscence, but also refines and strengthens our ecstasy, our way of approaching others.

On one occasion, a religious told me how as a young man he was deeply moved by the example of a missionary somewhat older than himself, which led him vigorously to recognize and accept his own vocation. As the years went by, events led him to have to accompany his admired brother in community, being in charge of helping him after a regrettable scandal. He confessed to me that, in the midst of the contrariety he felt, Providence had shown him that he should always approach others with greater mercy than he could have imagined.

As I read today’s First Reading, I was reminded of this experience, for King Solomon welcomed the gift of wisdom that God granted him, without losing sight of the mistakes made by his admired father, King David…and he himself, at the end of his life became a polytheist, fell into lust and the worship of riches. The victory in us of the kingdom of heaven, certainly, is the fruit of divine wisdom and the abnegation of the one who welcomes it.

–ooOoo—

2. In a truly complementary way, we say that in our mystical life, where the Holy Spirit takes the initiative, we go through purifications that lead us to an ever deeper union with God. If in the ascetical life we speak of Purificative Union, we can say that in the work of the Holy Spirit the Unitive Purification takes place. This union is carried out, as the monk St. Dorotheus of Gaza said, in a path of growing mercy, which brings us closer to God and to our neighbor at the same time. The kingdom of heaven takes possession of us in this way. He explained it with a geometrical image:

Imagine, -he said to his disciples- that every human being is at a point in a circle whose center is God. Our lives are like a straight line approaching the center. As we follow this path, the lines become closer and closer to each other. And St. Dorotheus concluded: The closer we get to others, the closer we get to God, and the closer we get to God, the closer we get to others.

We can also compare the pearl merchant and the man who finds the treasure by accident, perhaps when he was working as a farm laborer. The immediate lesson is that the Spirit has a different way of acting in each of us or at different times in a person’s life. We must be prepared for an unexpected call, which may seem like a formidable challenge, and also for a discreet suggestion, a request for a small effort that He will turn into light. Sometimes we have the grace to see what was a prophetic sign and at other times we are filled with amazement at the surprising divine plans.

But the First Reading teaches us that Solomon was actively engaged in the temple of Gibeon, in contemplation and listening to God, where, according to the biblical account, he offered a thousand holocausts to Yahweh (1Kings 3:4). In this expressive way we are reminded of how we must give signs of attention and listening to God, not only with sacrifices, but also by turning away from our desires, even if they seem lawful, convenient or innocuous. This is confirmed by the voice of God (verses 10-11), who expresses his satisfaction with Solomon’s attitude of continual discernment.

Actually, believing in the existence of God is not difficult, it can be an opinion without too much influence on our life. But to believe in his Providence is something else. The Second Reading reminds us that everything contributes to the good of those who love God, which sometimes seems contrary to our experience, for we suffer pain in many forms, including impotence to help those we love.

But the greatest success in which we can participate is well described in the words we heard today from St. Paul: Those whom God foreknew, he also destined from the beginning to reproduce the image of his Son, who was to be the firstborn among many brethren. Thus, it is not only a matter of speaking about Christ, nor of performing spiritual deeds; once again, we are called to abnegation, to diminish so that He may grow in the eyes of our neighbor. Only by identifying with His mercy, by living far from our judgments and desires, can we “reproduce His image” instead of our own.

It is clear in the two parables that we must abandon precious things, and nothing is more so than our opinions and desires. Moreover, the way to do so must be with diligence, like the fortunate finder of treasure or the merchant of pearls. How many young and quite intelligent people, as well as industrious, understand that God is calling them… and allow themselves to submit that call to supposed considerations of prudence, of going little by little, of “each thing in its own time”.

—ooOoo—

3. The third image of the kingdom of heaven, the net, tells us the opposite; it speaks to us of the importance of the present time, of the need to give a response to the Spirit RIGHT NOW, and this is not limited only to people who must eventually decide on their religious consecration, but to you and me, who are called to put what is new and what is old at the service of the kingdom. Far from being a call to activism, it is an invitation to consider all that we have received, all that enables us to love God and neighbor with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength (Mk 12: 30). Sooner or later, the image of Christ will become visible in our timid steps:

One story in Jewish tradition tells of a rabbi who was so holy that it was rumored that on Saturday afternoons he would ascend to heaven to personally converse with God. The rumor arose from the observation that this rabbi simply seemed to disappear from the sight of the local community until the end of the day. Several boys decided to secretly follow the rabbi.

Throughout the afternoon and into the early evening they watched him enter the homes of the elderly, the sick and the poor. He prepared meals, cleaned the houses and read scripture to the lonely. When later asked if the rabbi had really ascended to heaven, the boys replied, No. He ascended much higher.

The net speaks to us of the end times, but also of discernment, of the work of Recollection and Quietude that I must do right now.

_______________________________

Luis CASASUS

President