In his commentary on this Sunday’s Gospel, Friar Luciano Audisio, OAR, invites us to contemplate the parables of the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net that gathers all kinds of fish as a call to discover the true center of our lives. Furthermore, this reflection reveals a surprising truth: God is not only our treasure, but we are also the treasure for which Christ gives everything.
The Kingdom of God, the only treasure that remains
This Sunday’s Word of God invites us to ask ourselves a question that can change our lives: what is most important to me? What am I willing to give up everything for? What truly occupies the center of my heart?
Solomon, in the first reading, is given the opportunity by God to ask for anything. He could have asked for wealth, power, or a long life. However, he asks for a wise heart to discern. He understands that there is a good superior to all others, a treasure that gives meaning to everything else. This same teaching is what Jesus develops in the Gospel through three parables: the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net that gathers all kinds of fish.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not merely a place we will go to someday. It is God’s sovereignty over our lives. It begins when God ceases to be secondary and becomes the center of our existence. The Kingdom starts when we can truly say: “My Lord and my God” (Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου), when we discover that our happiness does not depend on the things we possess, but on a living relationship with Him.
Jesus first speaks of a man who finds a hidden treasure in a field. The surprising thing is that the treasure was always there; it simply remained hidden. Something similar can happen to us. We can live fifty, sixty, or ninety years without discovering the greatest treasure we carry within. We can pass by it every day without stopping to look for it.
That field the parable speaks of is also our own heart. There God has hidden His presence. That is why spiritual life is so important. Prayer, silence, reading the Word, adoration, and examination of conscience are the ways to dig in that field until we find the treasure God has placed in our lives. He who never digs, never discovers.
There is one detail we must not overlook. The Gospel says that man sells everything “because of the joy that the discovery brought him” (ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτοῦ ὑπάγει). He does not sell everything out of obligation or fear. He does so because he has found something infinitely better. Christianity does not begin with a renunciation, but with a discovery. It does not start by saying “leave this,” but “look what you have found.” When one discovers the love of God, many things cease to have the importance they once seemed to have.
Perhaps this is a good question to ask ourselves today: have I lost the joy of the first encounter with Christ? Because when joy disappears, faith ends up being reduced to a set of obligations. In contrast, when the experience of the encounter remains alive, even sacrifices acquire new meaning.
Christ gives everything to rescue us
The second parable presents a merchant seeking precious pearls. All of us are, in a way, that merchant. We spend our lives seeking a gaze that makes us feel valuable. We seek recognition, acceptance, and affection. Many times we end up begging for the approval of others, convinced that our happiness depends on how they see us.
However, there is a gaze that never changes: the gaze of God. He has known us forever and loved us from all eternity. Even before we existed, we had already been thought of and loved by Him. That is the true precious pearl.
But here the tradition of the Church Fathers helps us take another step. We usually think that God is the treasure and that we are the ones who must sell everything to attain Him. However, many Fathers also interpreted these parables in reverse. The true protagonist is God. He is the one who discovers an immense treasure and is willing to give everything to acquire it.
And what is that treasure? It is us.
That is precisely the Incarnation. The Son of God leaves the glory of heaven, assumes our human condition, shares our suffering, accepts the cross, and even enters into death to rescue us. Not because we were perfect, but because to Him we are infinitely valuable.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian expresses it with a wonderful image. He says that we are the pearl hidden at the bottom of the sea and that Christ is the diver who descends to the depths to rescue it and bring it back to the light. That is the story of salvation. Christ descends to where we could not escape by our own strength and brings us back to life.
How different our existence would be if we truly believed that we are so important to God! Many of our insecurities arise because we forget who we are in His eyes. When one discovers that they are loved in that way, they stop desperately seeking the recognition of others.
Letting ourselves be purified by God’s love
Finally, the net that gathers good and bad fish appears. It is not just an image of the final judgment. It also describes what happens in our lives when we allow ourselves to be loved by God. His love does not leave us unchanged. A purification begins. Little by little, He separates from our hearts everything that does not belong to His Kingdom: pride, resentment, selfishness, superficiality, and sin. Sometimes this process hurts, because it implies giving up many securities. But it is the pain of one who is being healed.
Let us ask the Lord today for the wisdom of Solomon to recognize the true treasure. May we not spend our lives seeking riches that eventually disappear, while ignoring the only wealth that remains forever. May we once again experience the joy of the encounter with Christ, that joy that makes it possible to leave everything because we have found the All.
And, above all, may we never forget this life-transforming truth: God is our treasure, but we are also God’s treasure.
The Hidden Treasure: the joy of discovering that God seeks us first
In his commentary on this Sunday’s Gospel, Friar Luciano Audisio, OAR, invites us to contemplate the parables of the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net that gathers all kinds of fish as a call to discover the true center of our lives. Furthermore, this reflection reveals a surprising truth: God is not only our treasure, but we are also the treasure for which Christ gives everything.
The Kingdom of God, the only treasure that remains
This Sunday’s Word of God invites us to ask ourselves a question that can change our lives: what is most important to me? What am I willing to give up everything for? What truly occupies the center of my heart?
Solomon, in the first reading, is given the opportunity by God to ask for anything. He could have asked for wealth, power, or a long life. However, he asks for a wise heart to discern. He understands that there is a good superior to all others, a treasure that gives meaning to everything else. This same teaching is what Jesus develops in the Gospel through three parables: the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, and the net that gathers all kinds of fish.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not merely a place we will go to someday. It is God’s sovereignty over our lives. It begins when God ceases to be secondary and becomes the center of our existence. The Kingdom starts when we can truly say: “My Lord and my God” (Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου), when we discover that our happiness does not depend on the things we possess, but on a living relationship with Him.
Jesus first speaks of a man who finds a hidden treasure in a field. The surprising thing is that the treasure was always there; it simply remained hidden. Something similar can happen to us. We can live fifty, sixty, or ninety years without discovering the greatest treasure we carry within. We can pass by it every day without stopping to look for it.
That field the parable speaks of is also our own heart. There God has hidden His presence. That is why spiritual life is so important. Prayer, silence, reading the Word, adoration, and examination of conscience are the ways to dig in that field until we find the treasure God has placed in our lives. He who never digs, never discovers.
There is one detail we must not overlook. The Gospel says that man sells everything “because of the joy that the discovery brought him” (ἀπὸ τῆς χαρᾶς αὐτοῦ ὑπάγει). He does not sell everything out of obligation or fear. He does so because he has found something infinitely better. Christianity does not begin with a renunciation, but with a discovery. It does not start by saying “leave this,” but “look what you have found.” When one discovers the love of God, many things cease to have the importance they once seemed to have.
Perhaps this is a good question to ask ourselves today: have I lost the joy of the first encounter with Christ? Because when joy disappears, faith ends up being reduced to a set of obligations. In contrast, when the experience of the encounter remains alive, even sacrifices acquire new meaning.
Christ gives everything to rescue us
The second parable presents a merchant seeking precious pearls. All of us are, in a way, that merchant. We spend our lives seeking a gaze that makes us feel valuable. We seek recognition, acceptance, and affection. Many times we end up begging for the approval of others, convinced that our happiness depends on how they see us.
However, there is a gaze that never changes: the gaze of God. He has known us forever and loved us from all eternity. Even before we existed, we had already been thought of and loved by Him. That is the true precious pearl.
But here the tradition of the Church Fathers helps us take another step. We usually think that God is the treasure and that we are the ones who must sell everything to attain Him. However, many Fathers also interpreted these parables in reverse. The true protagonist is God. He is the one who discovers an immense treasure and is willing to give everything to acquire it.
And what is that treasure? It is us.
That is precisely the Incarnation. The Son of God leaves the glory of heaven, assumes our human condition, shares our suffering, accepts the cross, and even enters into death to rescue us. Not because we were perfect, but because to Him we are infinitely valuable.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian expresses it with a wonderful image. He says that we are the pearl hidden at the bottom of the sea and that Christ is the diver who descends to the depths to rescue it and bring it back to the light. That is the story of salvation. Christ descends to where we could not escape by our own strength and brings us back to life.
How different our existence would be if we truly believed that we are so important to God! Many of our insecurities arise because we forget who we are in His eyes. When one discovers that they are loved in that way, they stop desperately seeking the recognition of others.
Letting ourselves be purified by God’s love
Finally, the net that gathers good and bad fish appears. It is not just an image of the final judgment. It also describes what happens in our lives when we allow ourselves to be loved by God. His love does not leave us unchanged. A purification begins. Little by little, He separates from our hearts everything that does not belong to His Kingdom: pride, resentment, selfishness, superficiality, and sin. Sometimes this process hurts, because it implies giving up many securities. But it is the pain of one who is being healed.
Let us ask the Lord today for the wisdom of Solomon to recognize the true treasure. May we not spend our lives seeking riches that eventually disappear, while ignoring the only wealth that remains forever. May we once again experience the joy of the encounter with Christ, that joy that makes it possible to leave everything because we have found the All.
And, above all, may we never forget this life-transforming truth: God is our treasure, but we are also God’s treasure.
Related posts
Listening to better proclaim Christ: the Missionary Synod’s listening phase begins
The Order opens the Missionary Synod’s listening phase with an online questionnaire for the entire Augustinian Recollect Family at escuchamisional.recoletos.org.
Rio de Janeiro brings together Augustinian Recollect education at Brazil’s 25th Pedagogical Conference
More than three days of formation,
Cardinal Omella proposes Saint Ezequiel Moreno as an example of hope in the face of suffering
Cardinal Juan José Omella devotes his Sunday letter in La Vanguardia to Saint Ezequiel Moreno, highlighting him as an example of mission, hope, and faith.