At Home with Faith
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The Pearl of Great Price
July 30, 2023
17h Sunday in Ordinary Time
"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." (Matthew 13:45-46)
Every choice we make has a cost and a reward. Some of these choices are easy to make because the cost is low and the reward is high. Other choices may be more of a dilemma, especially when there’s great uncertainty or pressure from external influences.
Scripture reminds us that our relationship with God is our ultimate treasure. It might not always be easy to prioritize our faith life, but when we place God at the center of our choices and actions, the reward will always be greater than the cost.
Read
1 Kings 3:5,7-12
"Give your servant, therefore, a listening heart"
Psalm 119:57,72,76-77,127-130
"I love your commandments more than gold”
Romans 8:28-30
God chose us to be conformed to the image of his Son.
Matthew 13:44-52 (shorter form: Matthew 13:44-46)
Jesus teaches about the Kingdom of Heaven.
Talk
"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.” (Matthew 13:44) Think of a time when you felt true delight, deep love, or great joy, whether it be with a person or in an experience. Where were you, and what circumstances surrounded this memory?
We might not be able to literally hear the voice of God during prayer or see him in visions or great apparitions, but he makes his presence known to us in many ways. Often, it is in times of great joy or profound sorrow. Sometimes, it catches us by surprise in the ordinary moments in our day-to-day lives. At the end of our days, these are the memories we'll recall and wish we enjoyed more. How can we place greater importance on being present in our lives today and find God in all every moment, experience, and encounter?
Go Deeper
Below is an excerpt from “The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder” by Richard Rohr, OFM. Use this prayer to help ground yourself in the present moment and grow in your trust that all things work for those who love the Lord.
Good God, we believe that you are here and your presence gives us hope.
We thank you for each day of our lives. We thank you for so many further chances to understand, to forgive again, to trust again, and to love. We thank you that we live now, that our problems are soul-sized. We ask that you teach us and lead us, that you put the thoughts into our mind that you want us to think, the feelings in our hearts that you want us to feel. Reconstruct us. Put us together because we don’t know how to do it ourselves. We trust that you are hearing this prayer, and that you care for the answer more than we do. We pray therefore not alone, but with the whole body of Christ in Jesus’s name. Amen.
By Richard Rohr, OFM, “The Wisdom Pattern: Order, Disorder, Reorder”