Please read this passage before reading the homily.
My sisters and brothers,
My Dad found his treasure on the Great Lakes and in Ohio he found his children and wife. I likewise have found my treasure after the example of my parents.
Once upon a time a person left home at the top of a high mountain to seek his reign in the deep valley below. Day and night he searched the whole territory looking for his domain and people. After a long time, he finally found his reign and he sold everything else he had to buy that reign.
The reign of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. The Son of God, who has found it, is full of joy and has come to buy it. The reign of heaven is like a dealer of fine pearls. When he has found us, for we are valuable pearls, he sold everything he had in heaven in order to buy us.
The reign of God is like God’s fishing net in which God wants to gather all peoples into God.
We are the valuable treasure that the Lord is looking for and wants. We are the pearl of great price. We are the fish in the Lord’s net, and God has saved us from the devil’s evilness and purified us from distress and fear.
The Lord has saved us because of his great love for us. He has chosen us for his reign, for everlasting joy. In return, God has called us to be God’s son in name and in fact. He has commanded us to go out to the rest of the world to call them in this reign as pearls of great price and hidden treasures.
We are the body of Christ, and we eat the Body of Christ and become more so the body of Christ in order to draw the others in the treasure chest and pearl rack of Christ’s reign. We have come into the world in the person of Christ to bring all the rest into the reign of God.
The reign of God is here now.