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July 28, 2023The Pearl of Great Price!
There is only one thing in this world about which I am completely convinced and convicted: Jesus Christ is the Answer.
The Master illustrates this many times in His stories and parables. He says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure buried in a field…a pearl of great price.” And those who find it are filled with joy! Those who find it are willing to sacrifice everything else to get this one thing. What is this one thing?
Henry David Thoreau once wrote: “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” This famous line points to the fact that most people spend their lives trying to fill up the God-shaped hole called the human soul with earthly things. A priest friend of mine likens this to trying to fill up the Grand Canyon by throwing in M&M’s. This is an exercise in futility. But not nearly so futile as trying to find true happiness and fulfillment in the things of this world.
The only thing that can fully-fill the human soul is Jesus Christ. There is a “capax dei” in the human soul; a capacity for God that exists in nothing else. Archbishop Fulton Sheen once said that the most common illness of our age is existential neurosis. This is a philosophical disease caused by not knowing the answer to the existential questions: Where did I come from? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? I desire to be truly happy, forever happy. Why am I so often unhappy and unfulfilled? Will I ever have the fulfillment of all desire?
Does this not sound like a life of quiet desperation?
Nothing can fully-fill the human person except God. Jesus is the answer to every existential question! The pearl of great price can be found. The treasure buried in the field can be discovered and attained.
But what would you be willing to give to attain the Kingdom of God?
Fr. Brett Brannen
Pastor
