8th sunday after pentecost - father dominique

Readings

​Treasure in my Chest
Proper 12 Year A
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
We continue our reading of these parables of Jesus,

of these imaginative metaphors meant
to give us glimpses of the Kingdom.
Now, as we articulated last week, the Kingdom is nothing less than the King, and all those of whom He has taken hold and who share in His life,
a life fully and perfectly lived “in” what we call heaven;
hence, the expression, “the kingdom of heaven”.
 
We have the privilege of sharing in God’s life.
“You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed”
This is Peter’s way, in his epistle, chapter 1 (v. 23), of speaking of grace,
whereby we share in God’s life.
John tells us: “He gave power (grace!) to become children of God.” (1:12)
 
We have the privilege of sharing in God’s life.
We, of course, live our human life.
We eat and drink and try to be merry. 

We makes decisions and vacation and shop and sleep
          and engage one another in affection.
But, deep inside, something else is happening.
We have the privilege of sharing in God’s life.

God’s life is our truest life, for God is our purpose, God is our home.

Our human life—our decision-making and vacationing and shopping
and sleeping and engaging one another in affection--
is to be taken hold of and transformed from within, 

such that the God’s life—a life of pure light and pure love—radiate in us.
And, as suggested, to the extent that we share in God’s life,
          heaven begins now—deep inside.

I deliberately say, “to the extent”, for

• we are free to welcome or ignore or reject God’s life in us 

• we are free to let God work wonders in us or not.

 
We are, therefore, speaking of an invitation to ever-lasting happiness 

             extended to us at every moment of every day.
In the second reading Paul (Romans 8:29-30) says this
in what seems to be a complex way:
called, foreknown, predestined, justified and glorified. 
God is quite ambitious with us, and goes the whole nine yards!
 

• foreknown and predestined.


God’s mind and heart turned towards us.


• called. 


God attracting us.


• justified.


Made right with Him, God enabling us to be in relationship with Him.


• glorified.


God sharing His life with us, flooding us with light and love. 

 
What does Jesus reveal in this unusual string of very short parables
about the “kingdom of heaven”, parables to be placed in parallel,
thus shedding light on one another?
The parables reveal different aspects of God, the King, and the life of the God and our sharing in His life.
They can be interpreted in different ways and infinitely more can be said.
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed and yeast and a hidden treasure and a merchant and a fishing net.
 
Let us take a very brief look at these parables.
 
The mustard seed.
St. Gregory the Great—sixth-century Doctor of the Church,
to whom Gregorian chant is attributed,
who, as Pope, sent St. Augustine as first Archbishop of Canterbury in 597,
writes:
Christ Himself is the grain of mustard seed, who, planted in the garden of the sepulchre, grew up a great tree; He was a grain of seed when He died, and a tree when He rose again; a grain of seed in the humbleness of the flesh, a tree in the power of His majesty.
The kingdom of heaven:
Christ, our Tree, in Whose branches each of us find a place, a home.
 
The yeast. 
The kingdom of heaven: the Trinitarian life, “three measures”, in us,
until, as St. Paul says in I Corinthians 15:28, “God is all in all”. 
 
The treasure.
The kingdom of heaven: worth more than anything else,
to be safeguarded at all costs. 
St. Agnes understood this, when at the age of 14,
she refused to violate her commitment to God and instead accepted to die.
 
The merchant.
The kingdom of heaven: Christ who searches for us, His pearl of great price, gives all that He has, His very life, until He finds us. 

 
The fishing net. 
The kingdom of heaven: pure light and pure love,
          with no room for anything but these.
 
There are important questions that these parables invite us to ask:

• Do I seek to abide in Christ, my Tree?
• Do I welcome and allow the Trinitarian life in me to transform me?
• Is Jesus truly my treasure?

• Do I truly believe that I am God’s pearl of great price,

and that He is the “hound of heaven” pursuing me with relentless love?

• Do I let the Holy Spirit purify whatever is not light and love in me?

 
To some of us, this degree of intimacy with God
may sound too good to be true, or a little too far-fetched (too far to fetch)
          or even too much to handle (!).
I mean, really: intimacy with the Almighty?
Jesus makes it possible.  It is not our doing, but our receiving.
God who is full of might is even more full of love. 

Intimacy with the Almighty is possible,
and our issues—pain or hesitation or indifference or…need not be obstacles.
Paul says this in the second reading (Romans 8:28):
“We know that all things work together for the good
          for those who love God.”
In the heart of each of us, there is a desire to love God.
The desire is a gift and is already love for God.
And this desire is sufficient for God to
“make all things work together for the good”.
He will take our bruised and/or tired hearts and set them aflame.

If we so desire, heaven begins now—deep inside.