The Kingdom of Heaven: Have I Found It Here on Earth?

In today's Gospel, Matthew 13: 44-52, we are told that 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. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. when it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth."

Notice several things: that heaven can be found here on earth, that  you and I are capable of finding heaven and then hiding it again, that heaven here on earth, or beyond,  is not cheap. Both the person who found it buried in a field and the merchant who searched for "fine pearls" sold everything they had to "buy" the treasure which heaven is!  Am I willing to search for heaven here on earth? And what does heaven here on earth look like? I think heaven here on earth is found by the person who is willing to be his/her true self and do whatever necessary to be true to oneself. It's the artist or musician, the garbage collector, the mother/father, the grandmother/father, the teacher, nurse, engineer, the photographer, civil rights advocate who, like John Lewis, risks everything for what one felt called to become for the sake of what is right and and true and beautiful. It is the young man/woman who marries his/her soulmate even when one's parents or siblings or friends object.  It is the homosexual person who comes out of the closet and is proud to be the person God created him/her to be! It is the person who divorces one's first husband/wife to protect oneself and one's children from abuse and marries another, risking misunderstanding, rejection, even by one's church!

Finding heaven here on earth is truly like casting one's net out into the deep and finding "fish" of all kinds. Some are good "fish" and some are not and need to be "thrown" out of one life. The price of selecting what is right for oneself and therefore experiencing a taste of heaven here on earth may mean "selling all that one has" and starting over!

What do I need to "sell"? What do I need to "throw away" so as to taste heaven here on earth?  What price do I need to  pay? I need to know that the freedom and peace God's will for me involves me  making choices that are right for me and, most times, that leads to opposition!  Do I avoid what is right for me to avoid being misunderstood by friends or family members? Is that why I so seldom experience heaven here on earth?

Lord, may I risk being the person you are calling me to become!  May I sell what I need to sell to buy that precious pearl of being my unique self, my true self where the kingdom of heaven is buried!

Seeking the Pearl of Great Price and the Buried Treasure

In today's Gospel, Mt 13: 44-46, Jesus says to us:  "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...[she] finds a pearl of great price,...[she] goes and sells all that...[she] has and buys it." 

We are on a journey initiated by God, who calls us to discover "a treasure," the "pearl of great price."
St. Paul tells us, in 2 Corinthians 4:7, that we hold "this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."  God is the buried treasure, the pearl of great price.  Every disillusionment, every disappointment in life--and there will be many--is an opportunity to discover our true treasure, the only One who does not disappoint, is not a disillusionment.  These moments of discovery can be gut-wrenching as we come face to face with things, events and  persons (ourselves included) that do not live up to our idealistic and perfectionistic expectations.  Eventually, we will face the most difficult moment of all: "parting with the last of our jealous possessions: our sense of success, our reputation for holiness, the control of our future, the control of what our future ought to be.  The excruciating pain of a good, maybe [a] very good person called to be
better!" (Stuhlmueller, Carroll, C.P. Biblical Meditations for Ordinary Time--Weeks 10-22, Paulist Press, New York/Ramsey, 1984, p. 148). 

My prayer is, quoting parts of Stuhlmueller's meditation for Wednesday of the 17th week in ordinary time, that at the end of my life I may be ready to climb "the holy mountain, free of all earthly attachments," totally God's. I ask the Lord to rescue me "from evildoers," from my "own selfishness," so that I may, at that moment, be seeking nothing else but the real treasure and the pearl of great price, willing at that moment to sell absolutely everything to be one with my Savior in mind, heart, and soul.  I also pray for the grace to be assuming this challenge in my day to day living in the here and now.