Treasure

What a treasure it is to live like that under the protective vocation that God has established for me since before I was even conceived…

Parable of the Hidden Treasure (Rembrandt Gerard Dou)

Different people value different things.  These days so many people in the world value fame and fortune.  I suppose this is nothing new in human nature.  For thousands of years people have wanted to be remembered and wanted to live lives of wealth.  I have only to think of great rulers from the ancient world to think of examples of this – Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar of Rome, Cleopatra, Darius II and Xerxes I of Ancient Persia…  And the list goes on.  In fact, the very fact that I can remember these names – even thousands of years after these people died – is evidence tat their fame and fortune endured long after their Earthly bodies turned to dust…

And in more modern times, we can think of entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates and Elon Musk and a myriad of others who have made fortunes and established themselves on the world stage in terms of politics or economics or both…

And then there are other things that people value.  My husband – for example – really loves his jet ski.  It is a toy that he certainly spends a great deal of time playing around with…  My children value their Playstation, and my friends their coffee or free time.  Of course we also value (far more) our families and friends, but those material things too are valued by us…

Christ preached about value…

“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. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:44-46).

But here He was not really talking about a pearl or a physical thing.  After all, Christ Himself was terribly poor.  He did not even have a roof over His head and He sent His followers out without even a spare cloak or rod or staff…  And yet, He did value vocation.

I have only to think of the Rich Man who went away sad because he was unwilling to give up his riches to accept the vocation that God had for him in following Christ to realise the true treasure of this world.

And that treasure is our vocation.  And what a gift that is.  Some of us have a vocation to a religious life.  Others to a single life.  Others have a vocation to marry.  Others have a vocation to parenthood (whether they can have biological children or not) and then there are vocations expressed through our work – as teachers or doctors or lawyers or accountants, where we can bring Christ into the day-to-day of our lives…

And I have been thinking of what a treasure it is to live like that under the protective vocation that God has established for me since before I was even conceived…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.