“When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”
Written by Alice Camille
My twenty-something niece met a fellow while spending a year abroad. After she returned to the States, nothing seemed right. A year later, she returned to Europe and married the man. When you find the pearl of great price, everything else you have seems worthless in comparison.
We know the pearl when we encounter it. We might not know its name before we lay eyes on it, what shape or form it may take—whether it’s a life mate or vocation, the right city or a congenial community that we’re looking for. We may not even be looking for anything, until the thing we’re longing for hits us over the head and we realize we can’t live without it. Like the pearl dealer in the story, we may have to visit a lot of stalls and settle for a lot of second-best until real value comes our way. In the meantime, polish your discernment and trust!
When have you known, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this person, place, career, or thing, was the genuine item?
(Reflection and questions by Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings)
Since the Sunday Gospel is the heart of the Gospel Weeklies, an important part of preparing to share the Gospel with children is to read and reflect on it in advance of your class session. The Gospel at Home and the Gospel for All Ages (see Gathering Rituals/Questions) are resources on our website that can help you do this. While these resources take a break in the summer months, we’ll be drawing our weekly reflections from Exploring the Sunday Readings.
Image credit: Distant Shores Media/Sweet Publishing [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons