Scripture Reflections for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

“since God needs nothing God is always pleased by what brings us to deeper life. It's not as though Solomon's answer gives God something God needs. No, no. When God is pleased in the scripture it means we're coming in deeper life.”

“God has given us the great solution to the problem. Don't rely on your own powers, don't rely on your own accomplishments but rather Jesus Christ has been given to us and the more we put our faith and trust and confidence in him we will be saved.”

“All evil is just that, an incomplete, distorted version of the true treasure, the pearl of great price, a mere parody”

“While each of us is not not necessarily called to give up everything we have right at this moment, we know that that at the end of our lives we will be, and that we are called to approach life with “open hands,” progressively letting go of what we cling to other than God”

“So does obsession with choice and keeping options open prevent us from selling everything we have and obtaining the pearl? Does the pearl cost us more in today’s world than it did in the past?”

“can we see that if we're really focused on this Kingdom of Heaven, we have the freedom to bring from the storehouse both the old and the new?”

“no matter how you find the Kingdom of God, whether it comes to you as a bolt out of the blue, as a gift, as a grace, or whether you find it after a long and diligent search, you must sell everything you have and buy it”

“Just as no one person can haul a heavy and full net, we, together, need to pay attention, see and sort and do now what is transformative for the gift of life yet evolving”

“These parables are NOT invitations to “come as you are.” They are not for beginners. They ARE for those who have already tasted of the Kingdom of God’s Way and at least sense its value.”

“The readings are thus meant to help us retrace our steps and to reinvest our energies to searching for God and to be ready to lose ourselves for him”

“If we are docile to the teachings of Jesus, the one who is greater than Solomon, he will teach us the wisdom of the Kingdom”

“It is often said that Jesus accepts us as we are. That is true. But our acceptance of his acceptance of us involves change or it is not a genuine acceptance of his acceptance. And this is not something done out of duty but gracefully and joyfully.”

“I think the neat thing about this parable is not so much about the treasure that is buried in the field that we know – but rather what else is in the field, that treasure that we don’t know, that we cannot even begin to understand”

“when we entrust ourselves completely to God, we love more not less, we enter into the source of all love and we begin to love as God loves, which is so far beyond our often limited conceptions of what it means to love”

“if we could really understand the parables as Jesus told them to simple people, in touch with the land, and its treasures; in touch with finding and keeping real beauty rather than mindlessly accumulating stuff; and aware of how important it is to take just what is needed and to throw the rest back.”

“we do not possess Christ – it is he who embraces and possesses us with his love but first we have to let go of all the other things we cling on to so that we can hold to him”

“We cannot always know other people’s motives and weaknesses. We must seek the good. We must treasure the good like a pearl of great value.”

“What's the hidden treasure? A wise and discerning heart. What's the hidden treasure? It's Christ dwelling in you.”

“Jesus invites us to ponder and learn from this parable to find in our hearts the treasure that may be hidden or the pearl of great prize that will enable us to divest ourselves of attitudes, fears and distractions that prevent us from experiencing God's unconditional love”