When he finds a pearl of great price

Ex 34,29-35; Ps 98; Mt 13,44-46
31 JULY

The precious pearl is God, Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit, the body of Christ, his Church, the grace of redemption and salvation, eternal life and the love of God poured into our hearts. To possess these goods forever, if we have to sell our bodies so that they are crucified, stoned, beheaded, torn, scourged, insulted, spat, mocked and outraged, it is worth it. On the other hand, Christ Jesus has left us the example. Did He not deliver his body to the nails to bring his soul into the highest and to redeem the world by means of his sacrifice? A body is not worth a soul. The body is given to the Lord and He acquires souls for eternal bliss.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct (Mt 16,21-27).

Consequently, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us (Rm 8,12-18).

In the parable of the hidden treasure, one must admire the wisdom of man. He discovers a treasure. He discovers it by chance. It belongs to the owner of the field. He hides it, sells what he owns and buys the field. He becomes owner of the treasure. Intelligence is placed at the service of the greatest good. We have an eternity of eternal glory. Before our eyes, a moment of ephemeral glory. We choose the ephemeral glory and we lose eternal glory. We are foolish and ignorant. The rich villain, for a luxury dress and a dish of delicacies of a moment, lost eternal bliss. He ended up in the eternal fire burned by flames. If he could return to earth, I’m sure he would never take a seat at table and never wear a single suit. He would rather cover himself with rags, but end up in the glory of Paradise after death. But life is lived only once. You save it forever, but you also lose it forever. The choice is ours.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.

The parable of the precious pearl reveals to us that the human heart is pushed towards the search for the most beautiful and the most precious. However, this research is for material things. The flesh seeks the beautiful and the precious for the flesh. If the Holy Spirit dwells and lives in us, he will give us the taste of the search for what is beautiful and precious for eternity. The flesh attracts towards the flesh. The Spirit attracts towards eternal and invisible things. He who is devoid of the Holy Spirit will never be attracted to Heaven. He is a prisoner of his flesh. The Spirit, a gift of Christ, welcomed in us and invoked without interruption, frees our life from the slavery of the flesh and directs it towards the conquest of the eternal and incorruptible goods.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, fill us with the Holy Spirit. We will walk towards Heaven.