CHOOSING WHAT IS TRULY WORTH EVERYTHING
Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch 1 Kings 3:5,7-12; Romans 8:28-30; Matthew 13:44-52 A wealthy businessman was once asked, “What is the greatest investment you have ever made?” People expected him to mention a company or a piece of land. Instead, he replied, “The best investment I ever made was learning to distinguish between what is valuable and what is merely expensive.” In life, there is a profound difference between price and value. That is precisely what Jesus teaches in today’s Gospel. He tells two brief parables. First, a man discovers a treasure hidden in a field. Second, another finds a pearl of extraordinary value. In both cases, they sell everything they own to obtain what they have found. Notice that Jesus does not say they reluctantly gave up everything. They did so with joy. Why? Because they had found something infinitely greater than what they were leaving behind. In the parable, the treasure and the pearl represent th...
