“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44)
The kingdom of heaven is within us. Discovering it is the most beautiful and daring adventure. We are that ground, sometimes scattered among the waves and crises of life. We fall here, stumble there, and try to stand up again somewhere else. But it is a beautiful and precious moment when we look a little inside our own ground, our poor condition, and find this treasure hidden within us.
A new journey begins, costly and painful, because we will start selling things we have spent our days trying to acquire, believing they were our security and protection, and that we have grown used to. Giving them up is not easy. But to gain this treasure hidden within us, “it’s worth selling everything for it” and buying it… In buying it, we buy the most beautiful and genuine motivation for climbing the steps toward the perfection of love.
The kingdom of heaven is to love this treasure in me passionately, meeting the very owner of the treasure, who redeemed us when he “bought us with his precious blood on the cross”… The summit of the cross is the summit of “being stripped of everything” in order to win everyone… you and me and all of us.
Lord, make me that “adventurer in love” in search of you, this precious treasure hidden with love within us.
The best of times, my friends, with the Lord Jesus, who loves our earth passionately and dwells within us.
Father Joseph Abi Aoun
