What is Your Treasure?

07-26-2026Pastor's LetterFather Wilson

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In today’s Gospel, Jesus touches our most human concerns through three comparisons: the treasure, the pearl, and the net, as if to tell us that it would be the height of folly not to choose the best when it is within our reach. What is most valuable is the happiness we will have in heaven forever!

The meaning of the treasure and the pearl is very close to and understandable for our modern mindset. We constantly have to make important, valid, and worthwhile choices. Our sense of economy demands that we be careful not to waste energy on frivolous goals. What attitude should we adopt toward the gifts we have received from God? It is necessary to make an assessment and a choice. When I find the highest good, I must put all others aside and rejoice in it.

Only the person of Jesus Christ can truly fulfill our aspirations. And our Lord has revealed to us in a thousand ways that God comes first: the salvation of our souls, love of neighbor, and then all other creatures, with a relative value. In his meditation on the Christian life, St. Ignatius of Loyola tells us that: “Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and through this, to save his soul.” Creatures serve us insofar as they lead us to God. How do we distinguish what is important from what is secondary? How do we order them in a just hierarchy? To be good Christians, we must learn to detach ourselves from things. Only God is irreplaceable; everything else is relative, limited, and subordinate to the Kingdom of Heaven.

We should ask ourselves: Has the discovery of the precious pearl and the treasure caused me to change all the goals of my life? Has a layer of dust—routine, weariness, lack of enthusiasm, or lack of perseverance—fallen on my conscience, obscuring its brilliance? Have I become accustomed to always having the treasure of grace in my hands and no longer appreciate its full value? Have I perhaps already sold the treasure of the Kingdom, exchanging it for the cheap products the world offers?

Christ invites us today to embark on the search for “the Truth, who is Him, by the Way, who is Him, to give us the Life, who is Him,” abandoning everything to acquire it. The gaze of our hearts must always be directed toward the mystery of God, strengthened by the hope of constant growth that draws us ever closer to heaven.

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14)

All the best…in Christ.