EXCERPT: What is this treasure?  What is this pearl?   It’s the kingdom of heaven.  Many people think that God’s kingdom is somewhere up there in the sky, but it’s not a geographical place.  It’s a state of the heart.  It’s the power of God’s love working in our hearts, transforming our lives for the better.

The message from these parables is that the greatest treasure of all isn’t diamonds, pearls or money.  It’s the love of God, and it’s available to everyone, rich and poor alike, and we don’t have to go anywhere special to find it.  We can find it wherever we are in our ordinary lives. The workman found it while working; the merchant found it after a long search. 

EXCERPT: A lot of parishioners often walk up to me and tell me that they really pity me. They think that I have lost a great deal and given up so much for the priesthood – a family, a career, comfort and money and all these must have come at a terrible loss to me. I don’t really know how to tell them that I haven’t really given up that much. In fact, I don’t feel the loss at all. It would be so, if these things were really considered valuable to me, but they no longer do. In fact, for me the priesthood is a GAIN, not a LOSS!

It is ironic that the pitiable character of the creature known as Gollum in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings should provide us a lesson of valuing something. Upon the discovery of the One Ring which rules the rings of power, this creature descends into a world of darkness, forsaking friend and kin, enduring banishment and torture, risking death and even the damnation of his soul, and goes through great lengths to recover the one thing which he describes as his “Precious.” What he was willing to endure shows how much he truly values this object. The parables today raise a similar question: what do we value most in life? 

EXCERPT: There is a statement that I sometimes make in sermons, which I am reluctant to make because it is dangerous. It is also a statement which I would expect many people to disagree with. That is not why I am reluctant to make this contentious statement. Disagreement can be useful to us, as long as there is a willingness to go further into why we disagree. We learn a lot from disagreement. Now here is the statement: ‘ultimately there are only two logical alternatives. Either everything means something, or nothing means anything.’

EXCERPT: The Lord invited Solomon to ask for whatever he wanted. What do you and I want this morning? What do you and I need this morning? And how is God involved in the mix of our wants and our wishes, our dreams and our desires?

Having been fed with the bread of God’s word in the scriptures, we go to the Lord’s Table…

May Christ be who we need.
May Christ be what we want.
May Christ be our deepest desire.
May Christ be our fondest hope and our finest dream.

EXCERPT: What is it that we most desire? It’s a very important question, since the answer to that question will define what motivates us to act each day and what our priorities are. Those of my generation and older learned from the old Baltimore Catechism that the purpose of our being here on this earth was to know God, and to love God, and to serve God, and to be happy with Him now, and then one day forever in heaven. This is our purpose, and wisdom informs us that it must be what our desire is.

EXCERPT: The Kingdom of God, always somewhat mysterious for us, was always on the mind of Jesus. There are almost one-hundred and fifty references to God’s Kingdom in the New Testament, fifty-two of them in St. Matthew’s gospel alone. The more Jesus spoke about the Kingdom the more it seemed to His listeners to be another-worldly place. Perhaps that’s because in a world gone insane, sane things seem to be unreal…

We wonder what the Kingdom is for us, in everyday terms, as we live out life here in our town this week, next month, throughout the rest of this year, and beyond. How do we identify and describe God’s Kingdom here on earth? Some folks think of the Kingdom as a remote and distant heaven in another world at the end of life. Others think it’s an ideal political and economic order. Some think that the Kingdom is exclusively God’s business, not ours, and we have only to wait and receive it from God’s hands. Some identify the Kingdom as the Church; what’s inside the Church is the Kingdom, what’s outside of the Church is not a part of God’s Kingdom.

EXCERPT: “Wisdom is a spirit, intelligent, holy, unique…subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing…” Does it kinda sound like we can’t achieve it?

Once again, hardly. We can. Solomon writes, “She is the aura of the might of God…for she is the refulgence (I had to look that one up) of eternal light.” I read it over and over and thought, “Absolutely and wow.”

Wisdom is the melding of our thoughts with God thoughts. Are our thoughts and words colored by God’s? Solomon writes that wisdom is “The spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of [God’s] goodness.” We absorb and understand through our minds; that’s only the beginning. Wisdom emanates from the heart and soul only to return and live there.

SUMMARY: In this homily, Father Jude Thaddeus Langeh Basebang explores the supreme value of the Kingdom of Heaven through Scripture. Drawing from the first reading, he highlights King Solomon, who wisely chooses the gift of wisdom over wealth or longevity to better serve his people. This choice mirrors the theme of the day’s Gospel parables, where Jesus compares the Kingdom of Heaven to a buried treasure and a pearl of great price. Just as individuals would joyfully sacrifice everything to possess these valuables, believers are called to prioritize God’s Kingdom above all else.

Additionally, the parable of the dragnet serves as a sobering reminder of the final judgment, where the righteous will be separated from the wicked. Ultimately, Jesus Himself is revealed as our priceless treasure, hidden within the Gospels and the Sacraments, waiting to enrich all who sincerely surrender their lives to Him.

SUMMARY: In 1922, archaeologist Howard Carter made the stunning discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb, revealing unimaginable golden treasures that had lain hidden beneath everyday footsteps for millennia. While humanity possesses a natural instinct to hunt for buried gold and historical artifacts, the most profound treasures in life are rarely found in distant lands.

As illustrated by a traditional Hasidic tale of a man traveling to Prague only to discover his treasure was buried under his own chimney in Krakow, the truest treasures—happiness, peace, and deep human connection—are already right under our feet and inside our hearts. Even within negative emotions, grief, or challenging relationships with people who initially irritate us, a little digging beneath the surface reveals invaluable gems. We are most fully alive when we consciously recognize, dig for, and celebrate these hidden treasures within ourselves and one another.

EXCERPT: These two little parables of the kingdom relativize our approach to salvation. They remind us that obtaining the most important things in life is not a process over which we have control. It is a process over which God has control. And God is not bound to use our wisdom or our efforts. Now, should we go for what is the most important thing? Should we seek our heart’s desire? By all means—with all of our energy and strength.

If we try sincerely, sometimes like the merchant searching for fine pearls, we will find it. But on those days when our energy runs out, on those days when our searching seems futile, on those days when we can not even think of another thing we can try, the gospel reminds us not to give up hope. God still intends to save us. God still intends to give us our heart’s desire. And it is possible to stumble on the most important things, like finding a treasure hidden in a field.

Therefore, we should live with confidence. God is in charge. Whether we are looking for God or not, God is looking for us. And God is always successful.