Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 26, 2026

Matthew 13: 44-46

Have you ever come across something valuable by accident or searched for a valuable object and found it? Do you remember the joy you felt, the excitement? Maybe you found something in a secondhand coat you bought at a garage sale or Good Will Store. And in a pocket you discover a letter signed by George Washington or several U. S. Savings Bonds each worth $500.00. How did you feel? Or you have been searching for a piece of antique jewelry or the perfect house, and you finally find it. The joy and contentment from these discoveries is very great. Maybe you have worked as a cashier in a store and someone paid the bill with a $50.00 Gold Certificate from the 1920s; it happened to a friend of mine and since he collects coins, it was a joy to him t0replace it with an ordinary $50.00 bill!

Today's parables from St. Matthew’s Gospel use examples like these to teach something about finding the Kingdom of God and what to do with it. We can see the man working in a field and finding a treasure which is worth a lot of money. This would not be that unusual in the ancient world since there were few banks and people often buried valuables in time of war or civil unrest. Something could be buried and forgotten or the people who buried it died without telling about it. The finder would be very happy. He would sell all he had to buy that field and so own the treasure.

That can happen to us; we are not searching for the Kingdom of God, but something catches our attention and we find that kingdom before us. It can happen even after we have known about God and his Kingdom for years. One day, we hear a homily, read a passage from the Gospel, have an act of kindness done to us or seen it done to someone else, and we finally understand what the meaning of God in our lives is all about.

Or, take the man in the parable who has been searching for the Pearl of Great Price. The ancient people love pearls, not only for their value, but because they were beautiful. People loved just to hold them and look at them; this brought much pleasure. So, if a merchant came across such a pearl when he was not expecting it, he would joyfully sell all he had to get the pearl. He could enjoy it for a while and then sell it at great profit. This too can be a way we come to understand what God means in our daily lives; we have been searching for meaning and one day, when we least expect, we hear the word of God or see an incredible act of selflessness or great kindness, and we see at once what God is asking of us.

When one of these things happen, our life is changed for ever. This is what happened to St. Francis on seeing a person in need, or Mother Teresa looking out of her convent window and seeing someone’s physical suffering. We can no longer go on living in the same old way we have been. But, such an insight will cost us something. We are called to give up something, whether it be money, time, or comfort, or our life as usual. However, we do not look on this as something that causes pain or suffering. We do it out of joy; we are so overcome with gladness that we have found our way.

When we find the meaning of the Kingdom for us, when we see our purpose in it, we run toward it with enthusiasm. It changes us, we are transformed. We come out of ourselves and put on Christ. We become his very body, doing what he would do in the world around us. 

What have you been called to do or be? Do you feel the joy, the excitement?

Fr. John Tran