A Great Treasure

Friday afternoon, an email arrived that brought tears to my eyes. (Okay, so in the highly emotional throws of an almost complete adoption, pretty much everything brings tears to my eyes.) These, however, were pure tears of joy. The pastor of Beulah and Hannah's school was coming home. So we loaded up extra early to see and hear him say his first-time-back-at-Mass this past Sunday.

When he walked to the lectern prior to Mass to thank everyone for their support and encouragement, spontaneous applause erupted and several parishioners reached for their tissues. I watched my own children, who made cards and offered prayers on his behalf, stare incredulously at him. Minus his new, shorter buzz cut complete with a still healing scar, he looked and sounded exactly the same. It is an amazing thing to see tangible proof of an answered prayer.

But what impressed me so, was not the physical healing that had taken place, but God's promise to--as this Sunday's second reading reminded us--bring good out of any situation for those who love Him. Because when the pastor stood to give the homily, he spoke wisely from his experience. Referring to the gospel parable, he offered several treasures that he had more fully realized over the past month--his church and staff, his friends and family, and, most assuredly, his health. We all nodded in agreement. But, that realization, brought him to an even greater one--that those treasures have no meaning if we don't know the greatest treasure--Jesus. He is the only treasure of this world that is not fleeting. And the only treasure, he acknowledged, that we should ever worry about losing.