Daily Mass Gospel Reflection - Buried Treasure

Word on Fire Ministry ^ | 7.27.22 | Bishop Robert Barron

[MurphsLaw]

SEVENTEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

MATTHEW 13:44–46

Friends, today Jesus offers two parables about the kingdom of heaven. Let’s focus on the first one:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again.”

Sometimes God’s love is found that way. There’s a saying:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
Sometimes in the course of our everyday lives, something happens that vividly and surprisingly summons us to union with God.
We realize, in a flash, what it’s all about.
We weren’t particularly looking for it, but it found us.

That’s what Jesus is getting at today.
As you walk through the fields of life, be open to the inrushing of grace when you least expect it.
And when it comes, give up anything that holds it back.

[MurphsLaw]

+++Jesus said to his disciples: "The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that
field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it."+++

[Ezekiel]

"The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again."

>>>

We weren't particularly looking for it, but it found us.

Word on fire:

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far.
Webb's First Deep Field is galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, and it is teeming with thousands of galaxies --
including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared.

***

James has ancient roots in Hebrew. It's a variation on the name Hebrew name Yaakov (Jacob) -- which became Iacomus in Latin and eventually James in English.

James and Jacob mean "one who takes by the heel" or, more plainly, "supplanter." In the Bible story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob held onto the heel of his first-born twin brother, Esau, during their birth.

The name James appears prominently in the Bible, too. There are two apostles named James, as well as the brother of Jesus, who's sometimes called James the Just.

https://www.babycenter.com/baby-names/details/james-2221

JWST, pronounced as J - double U - S - T

Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls...

[MurphsLaw]

Is it not the wildest thing to think that the SMACS image you posted is around 4 billion years old?
And that much of that celestial wonder we are looking at, may not even exist anymore?

Whoa. Now that's a treasure hunt!