17th Week, Wednesday, July 27

 17th Week, July 27

Jeremiah 15: 10, 16-21 / Matthew 13: 44-46  

Jeremiah is crushed and depressed; God promised to help him.

Years ago, Time magazine carried a story about a priest imprisoned in Romania. His underground cell was in total darkness. A stench pervaded it 24 hours a day because it was next to an open drain into which toilets from five floors above him flushed. His bed consisted of two damp boards lying on a damp floor. Rats scurried over him constantly whenever he tried to sleep. 

But God did not abandon the priest. He spent hours meditating on Jesus' crucifixion. At times during his meditations, he was filled with an overwhelming sense of God's presence and strengthened to the point of great joy.

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Recall a time when God strengthened us, when we were overwhelmed by suffering or sorrow. "Whenever God gives us a cross to bear, it is a prophecy that he also gives us the strength." Anonymous

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There is no doubt that every day we do a lot of important things.  But while we are busy doing so many important things, we may just want to stop and do take a little time to do some reflecting.  Just what are the things we are doing that are really important?  Does it only have a temporary importance, or does it also have an eternal importance?  We need to remember that how we live our lives here on earth is a preparation of how we are going to live our lives in heaven.  And God has planted the treasures of heaven in our hearts to help us live our live our lives on earth.  Hence the search for this treasure is not from the without as in the material or tangible.  The search is from the within, in the depths of our hearts, where the treasures of God are waiting to be discovered.  When we discover that treasure within, then we will naturally let go of the things that are not important and unnecessary.  We will realize that it is God that is our only need, and it is God that we really want.

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Introduction 

Jeremiah is the first of the prophets to call God into account. Since he has given his life to God and his God-given mission, how come that he has to suffer so much to do God’s work? God’s answer is: Be converted. Trust in God even in your doubt and continue your mission. It is our lot and way to live with doubts and problems, and still to trust God. He is with us, even if we do not see it. That, precisely, is faith. 

 The two parables of today stress, each in its own way, that one should give up everything in order to possess the kingdom. In the first parable, the kingdom is the treasure, in the second, not the pearl, not the thing, but the person in constant search of it. Our search should concern the things that really matter: God’s reign among people, which, in response to God’s grace, we prepare through our love, our justice, our service, our compassion and forgiveness, by which we let Christ’s death and resurrection become a reality in our day. But it is a search – an ongoing quest, never fully achieved, but always, so we hope, in growth and progress.     

Opening Prayer 

Lord God, our Father, our heart remains restless until it has discovered the peace you offer us in your Son, Jesus Christ. Help us to put our trust and joy not in brittle, perishable things but in your Son, his Good News and the kingdom he came to build among us. Make us poor and receptive, give each of us an attentive and wise heart that keeps seeking until we have found you in Jesus and in people. We ask this through Christ, our Lord.