Wednesday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today we have two parables, the parable of the treasure hidden in a field, and the parable of the pearl of great price. In both parables, someone finds something of great value and gives up everything in order to possess that thing of great value. Here we have in parable form that saying of Jesus that appears in one form or another in each of the four gospels: “the one who wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it” (Mk 8:35).
This verse seems paradoxical, but it merely reverses what happened originally in the Garden of Eden and still happens today when we choose to sin. Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, but they did so in order that they could become like God, but without God. So, in a way, we are trying to be like gods when we sin, or merely to be our own person without God. But this actually leaves us alone with nothing to show for it. But in losing ourselves for the sake of God and God’s kingdom, we gain everything, including ourselves.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections