Our blog is inspired by The Holy Spirit.
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” Matthew 13:45
At Mass many, many Sundays ago, Monsignor Henchal gave a homily on this parable.
He said, and as I thought about it, I agreed, the Merchant is Jesus, and the fine pearl is us.
Wow, did that surprise me!
I had always thought the fine pearl was God, and we were the Merchant searching for the fine Pearl.
It’s the last line that I think makes my thinking wrong.
The last line states, “He goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Question;
You have found the Triune God; I know this because you are reading our blogs and the blogs of the other wonderful writers for A Catholic Moment. Because you are reading our blogs, you’re trying to find, know, and love God.
But,
Now that you have found God, have you sold everything to buy the pearl?
The answer, as you all know, is NO!
Soooo, we have a problem,
And that is selling everything.
Only one person, fully Divine and fully Human, sold everything.
Jesus, on the Cross.
When the spear was thrust into his Chest, He shed all of His Blood, and water poured forth.
Jesus’ Blood to wash away our sins, His shed water for our Baptism.
I read about the life of St. Francis; during his life, he wanted neither money nor fame. He never became a priest so much was the poverty he tried to live in, and just before dying, St. Francis expressed the desire to die naked, which Saint Francis did.
But,
Saint Francis didn’t shed his Blood; in short, he didn’t give up everything.
So the question is, who is the pearl?
The answer is obvious,
You and me.
Wow!
What Monsignor Henchal said blew me away.
That’s how much God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit love us.
They gave it all so that we could find Heaven here and now and live a life unknown before the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus’ death on the Cross is also why it is so essential for us to accept this tremendous gift.
Name any other God who forgives as the Triune God does.
What else would you call what God achieved on the Cross?
It’s a gift, a gift we have no right to expect.
Therefore we should try and live as much as we can in the “Spirit World,” thanking God all the time for what God has, is, and will do for us.
It is also important to thank God for the difficulties God ALLOWS in our lives.
A Life filled with Praise is also a life filled with Joy,
And, it’s Joy that separates the Christian from the “World.”
Because;
“He goes and sells all that he has and buys it.
“The nine” We pray you will grow in the Love, Joy, and Peace of the Holy Spirit by growing in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Linda wrote a comment I could easily relate to in our last blog. She said she had severe back pain, had tried everything, including seeing doctors, and had no relief.
At age twenty-eight, I suffered back pain from arthritis.
I went on an aspirin regimen, twenty-eight pills a day, and today I still take thirteen hundred milligrams of Bufferin daily.
People look at me and say, “Your stomach must be a wreck!”
I told them “No,” and after many years, I realized God was taking care of me. The pain I experienced was very hard.
Today the pain is gone!
Yes, I still take the Bufferin, and if I stop, the pain returns.
I mention this because this is an excellent example of God taking care of me.
I also learned and now fully believe that MY LOVING FATHER, BROTHER, and HOLY SPIRIT want me healthy. My sins have been washed away by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Once I realized this, my life changed.
Question?
When you feel sick or hurt somewhere, oh and by the way, being eighty is no picnic, every day some part of my body lets me know they are not pleased with how they have been abused,
Who do you think of first,
Your doctor,
or
God?
In the past, my, yes my, answer would have been to call the doctor.
Now,
My first thought now is to thank God for the DIFFICULTY God has ALLOWED at this particular point in my, our life!
I do say this prayer every day.
And why wouldn’t I,
It Works!
And this may be a surprise to many of you, but I now expect God to take care of me.
Why wouldn’t God take care of me? God wanted me here in the first place, God the Father knew and chose me before I was born (2 Thessalonians 2:13), and as we discussed above, I am that Pearl.
Never forget, I sadly am a sinner.
I’m mentioning this because when I was younger, I thought, as Linda thought in her comment, that I would offer up the pain for my sins. I have, past tense, done this with my arthritis and other pains I have experienced over the years.
Wait just a second, Jesus took away our sins!
You can’t build a relationship with God by just enduring pain.
Instead, I, we, submit that a relationship grows by being taken care of by a loving and caring God.
My parents and I built a Loving relationship as they cared for me as I grew up.
They took care of me!
Because they took care of me, we built a loving relationship.
I never realized until now the connection between my parents’ love and God’s love.
Wow!
I’m pumped!
I started this Sidebar with an empty mind, prayed, “Where do we go,” and Wow, I am filled with Joy by what we just wrote.
I Love this Ministry!
Thank you, Linda, for your comment.
Picture:
Gail and I were driving to Florida to see family, and we stopped to have lunch. The bird pictured above landed on our car door, looked in the side mirror, and spent a lot of time looking at the image in the mirror.
Note:
Mike and Cindy are coming next week, so I will probably not make any responses to your comments until the week after.
