MY GREATEST TREASURE

XVII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 13:44-52

What is the great treasure of my life, the one I am ready to suffer and to fight for? What I consider to be the treasure of my life determines my choices and my actions in life, because it presents me with the values by which I am guided and which give meaning to my life.

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus speaks about the treasure hidden in a field and the fine pearl of great value, so great that one is ready to spend all his wealth in order to get that pearl or to buy that field. And according to Jesus, the Kingdom of God is that treasure and that pearl, meaning that there is nothing of greater value than the Kingdom of God. However, many people put forward other values and find their treasures somewhere else. 

Nowadays, many people make their own self the pearl that overshadows everything else. They become the centre of the world, the only god that must be served and worshipped. When I do that, only my rights matter, and to affirm myself I can trample upon the rights of the others. The whole world must be at my service and fulfil whatever my heart desires. The world we live in, power and wealth reign as supreme values for which we are ready to spend everything else to obtain them, with the inner assurance that they will bring bliss and peace to our hearts. However, that is a fallacy. Having wealth and power, we use them in our search for pleasure. In this search for pleasure, we break all rules and are ready to do the strangest things, so that we get a name and appear as someone outstanding. In spite of all this frenzy, we do not find peace and happiness. Drowning ourselves in noise, our hearts bleed of loneliness, crying out for true love, the only love that can put our hearts at peace.

When the Kingdom of God becomes the treasure of our lives, then we realise our true dignity of children of God. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that God called us according to a purpose. And what is God’s purpose? He intended that we “become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers.” (Ro 8:29). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our eldest brother, and in him, we become children of God, so that we may have a share in God’s glory. And God is ready to co-operate with us and to turn everything to our good.

Like Solomon, we must for wisdom instead of wealth. And then we will be able “to discern between good and evil” (1 Kings 3:9).

IN ALL OF US, THERE IS GOOD AND EVIL

XVI SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 13:24-43

It sounds so easy and simple when we classify people as good or evil. I know where I am standing: I am good, and I am able to easily recognise the evil: those who do not look like me, don’t speak as I do and do not have the same ideas. They are a threat to me, and so they are evil and are considered as enemies that I should get rid of. Then, it is not surprising that we find people who are very outspoken in speaking of freedom and rights but become oppressive of all those who do not think like them. For instance, many people who defend the gender ideology are ready to impose their ideology through all means in the name of political correctness. This is an old attitude in which everything is black or white, without a place for grey areas. However, the reality is not like that and human beings are not like that. 

Human beings cannot be divided into totally evil or perfectly good. In all of us, there is good and evil. That is why it is very difficult to judge. This Sunday’s parable is about that. The good seed and the darnel grow together and they are so intertwined that if we try to get rid of the darnel, we will pull up the wheat as well. So Jesus advises us to be patient and to wait for the harvest time - the time of judgement when God will be able to separate the two. When we make ourselves judges of the others,  considering ourselves good, while they are evil, we end up doing evil things. All totalitarians regimes come from that. For instance, the radicals of the Islamic State go to unthinkable extremes of violence perpetrated on those whom they consider unbelievers. We are ready to condemn all those who are different or think differently from us. The Gospel advises us to leave judgement and revenge to God because he alone is able to distinguish the evil from the good and he alone is able to read into our hearts and know our motivations.

The parable can be applied as well to our political or religious situation. If we consider people as evil, just because they belong to other churches, then we are the evil ones; and if we consider people as evil, just because they belong to other tribe or another political party, then we are the evil ones, and we are the ones sowing strife and conflict in the society to which we belong.

Let us have our eyes wide open so that we can recognise the grey areas and discover the good that others do. By doing that, we will give them the motivation to do even better and we will be able to walk together and work together, building a better society and a better nation.

DIFFERENT ATTITUDES IN LISTENING

XV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 13:1-23

The parable of the sower, read in this Sunday’s Gospel, is not so much about the sower or even the seed, but about the soil which receives the seed. There are different types of soil, which explains the difference in the results when the harvest time comes.

Confronted with many people who rejected his word, Jesus put forward this parable, challenging them and stressing the importance of hearing with an open heart. He applied to the people this passage of Isaiah:

“For the heart of this nation has grown coarse,

their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes” (Is 6:10)

To hear and to see are essential for us to live in and relate to the world. In order to establish relationships, listening is essential, that is, hearing with the heart, which leads to understanding and acceptance. When I listen, I affirm the other and the other realises that he/ she is there for me. By listening, I drop my defences, become vulnerable and allow myself to be touched by the other. This makes the dialogue possible and strengthens the relationship. Listening is of paramount importance in all relationships: in marriage, in the family and in groups. Whenever I refuse to listen, I reject the other and the relationship will break down sooner or later. The parable tells us that the same happens when we hear the word of God. The different types of soil represent our different attitudes towards the Word or the different things that may distract us and stop us from listening and being challenged by the Word.

Each one of us should examine himself and find out how he hears when others talk to him? How do I listen? How do I listen to my spouse, to my children, to my parents, to my friends? And how do I listen to God? Is he allowed to speak? Nowadays, there is so much noise that we become deaf - deaf even to ourselves. In order to listen, we need silence, not only of noise but also of the worries that not allow us to stop, to sit and to reflect.

The parable presents the following types of soil:

• the edge of the path: - someone hears but does not understand; he is not touched by the word since it sounds like nonsense to him.
• patches of rock: - someone who enjoyed the word but had no time for it; he does not allow himself to be challenged by the word. Trials and suffering kill the hope that germinated in his heart.
• among thorns: - “the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.” (Mt 13:22)
• rich soil: - “the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Mt 13:23)

What kind of soil do I have in my heart? Do I listen? Do I allow the word to challenge me? 

Christ is the Word, and we must listen to him (Mt 17:5).

THE LORD OF THE AFFLICTED

XIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 11:25-30

During Summer time, in Portugal, there are plenty of traditional feasts. Last week, in the Parish of Valadares, where the seminary of Good News Missionary Society is located, people celebrated the feast of the Lord of the Afflicted, which is a feast to the Crucified Christ. One may be surprised to see that the Crucified Christ is invoked as the one who brings consolation to all those who are in pain and suffer affliction. For people who suffer and who lost hope, it is consoling to know that they are not alone; in their midst, there is “a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity” (Is 53:3). It brings relief to our pain to know that the Son of God, the Messiah, shares our suffering.

Speaking of the suffering servant of the Lord, the prophet Isaiah wrote:

“Surely he has borne our infirmities

and carried our diseases;

yet we accounted him stricken,

struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions,

crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the punishment that made us whole,

and by his bruises we are healed.” (Is 53:4-5)

In this Sunday’s Gospel Jesus presents himself as the one who brings consolation and he invites us  to come to him:

“Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest. Shoulder my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden light.” (Mt 11:28-30).

All consolation comes from Christ. He went through suffering and so he is able to understand the pain others go through. In Bemba, there is a saying: icikalipa cumfwa umwine ( what it pains, only oneself can feel). Those who never experienced suffering cannot understand the suffering of the others. 

Nowadays, in spite of so much noise, of so many ways of finding pleasure and plenty of means for subduing pain, people find it difficult to feel at peace and many live in a world without hope. Jesus invites us: Come to me! With his light, he scatters the darkness that surrounds us, gives us the courage to overcome fear and fills us with hope to go on walking on the path of life.

In the first reading, the prophet Zechariah invites us to rejoice and to shout with gladness, because the Lord is coming with victory in his hands. He comes to bring peace, banishing the weapons of war:

“the bow of war will be banished.

He will proclaim peace for the nations.” (Zech 9:10)

THE DIFFICULT DECISIONS WE MUST MAKE

XIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Matthew 10:37-42

Jesus used to spend special time with the group of twelve Apostles, preparing and instructing them for their future mission. In doing that, he was always straightforward, always telling them the truth, never hiding or soothing the difficulties.

In order to be true disciples of Jesus, we must make him our number one. Nobody else can take the first place in our lives. Our family - be it father or mother, husband or wife, son or daughter - comes in second place.They are not ignored or excluded. We remain with the duty to respect and to care for them, but they cannot establish the rule by which we guide our lives. Nowadays, there are many Christians who are confronted with this situation and they have to choose between family and Jesus Christ. In societies which are overwhelmingly Muslims, the one who decides for Christ knows that he will become an outcast, being rejected by his own family, who may threaten to kill him. In spite of that, many people, after experiencing the love of Christ, are ready to go through that. 

Being disciples of Jesus, we must be ready to carry the cross. Soon or late, everybody will find the cross. Suffering goes always side by side with life, in spite of all our efforts to overcome it and to lead pleasant lives. Walking in the footsteps of Jesus, the true disciple knows how to transform suffering into a source of growth and maturity, so that it becomes a source of life. If we reject the cross, we are not worthy of being disciples of Jesus. This does not mean to look for suffering or to inflict suffering on ourselves, but to embrace the cross when it comes our way. “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me.” (Mt 10:38). To find life, we must be ready to lose our life for the sake of Jesus Christ.

After these stern words, Jesus pronounced some reassuring ones: “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me; and those who welcome me welcome the one who sent me.” (Mt 10:40)

The first reading from 2 Kings 4:8-11,13-16 presents the example of a family welcoming the prophet Elisha and how that family was rewarded. Jesus speaks of a similar reward for all those who help his disciples, mainly in the proclamation of the Gospel. 

Let us pray for all those who encounter suffering because of their faith in Jesus Christ, so that they may find the strength to remain faithful and pray for all those who put themselves at the service of the Gospel, so that they may find joy and peace.