A pearl of great price

The text in the Roman Catholic Lectionary today from the Gospel of Matthew is a portion of three parable of Jesus on the reaction of people to encountering great value. The parable does not describe what it was about the pearl or the treasure which put it in the category of great value. The psalmist today praises God for a quality of “for holy is He’. The sign that Moses had been in valuable communication with God described in Exodus was a radiant and shining face. Our faces, perhaps particularly our eyes are often reflective of the things of value we encounter. The gaze of the lover towards the beloved, the joy of children as they approach family and the gracious gifts of Presence, people and place will cause our disposition to reflect the value we experience. The parable underlines what we know from experience that these extremely valuable finds are the result of our thirst for whole or holiness and they cannot be purchased with the currencies of our commercial culture. As we incorporate the priceless pearl and the great treasure of our relationship with the Divine into our being, we radiate, like Moses, a sign that there is something of great value here.