Mt 13:44-46 I Have Bought The Field

Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week In Ordinary Time

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Jesus said to his disciples:  “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.”

Treasure buried in a field.  The world is like a field.  Faith in God is like a treasure found in that field.  Purchasing a field with treasure is like living in the world with faith. 

With faith, you get so much more out of this world. 

Faith brightens, strengthens and deepens everything, especially human life.  Relationships become much more meaningful; life and death take on a new dimension; and love becomes so much more than just affection, friendship and romance.  Love becomes unconditional.    

But those with faith must learn to cut through the nonsense that screams at it.

After being in Brazil for one week, and having visited the poorest and most violent slums there; after having over three million young people attend Mass in Copacabana, the Holy Father finally, FINALLY, made it on the front page of yesterday’s Dallas Morning News (DaMN). 

Really???  Yes.  For what?  For his remarks regarding homosexuality. 

Ooooh.  Exactly...

Those who have money have more control than those who do not.  Hence, those who have more money typically direct most of our conversations. 

I read yesterday’s DaMN article and I found it amusing how it began:  “For generations, homosexuality has largely been a taboo topic for the Vatican…”

Really???   For the Vatican???  Correct me if I am wrong, but hasn’t homosexuality been a taboo topic for generations in society, schools, families, neighborhoods and even in the military?  Hasn’t it been a topic kept in the closet for generations?

Well, not only is their criticism pointed in the wrong direction, it is also highly incorrect.  Speaking out on homosexuality and marriage is nothing new, especially among Judeo-Christians. In fact, the inspired writers of the Old Testament made that clear when they stated that “God created them male and female, and the two shall become one.” 

But what is refreshing about the Holy Father’s words is that the Catholic Church is capable of loving those who disagree with them.  That is deep.  That is profound.  That is the power of faith in Jesus Christ.

I am reminded of the atheist group known as “Femen.”  If you recall, their female members go around in public bare chested and screaming at others.  Now, they are not considered great thinkers and are often mocked, even by the left, for being extremely superficial in their deliberations, for there is no correlation between women’s rights and going around bare chested, or religion and the subjugation of women (unless, of course, you are a western atheist and a xenophobe).   I don’t know about you, but they sure remind me of a similar movement of the 1960’s, whose members were known as naturists or nudists, and correlated public nudity with a “return to nature.”

How ridiculous.

People often ask me why I read the New York Times or the Dallas Morning News, especially when I know these newspapers are often aggressively anti-Catholic.  Well, if you don't know. These news outlets actually help me to sharpen my mind and increase my faith.  For if these are the best arguments those opposed to faith and the Church can field, then clearly the other field is richer, wider, greener and more beautiful than theirs.

I am very confident that I have bought the field with the treasure buried in it.