What is the pearl of great price?

There once was a religious education teacher who asked her class to explain what the pearl of great price was. The first child answered Jesus is. Another replied God. One more spoke up, “It’s heaven!” All of these are the right answers. One by one, they went around the room answering, till they got to the young girl with down’s syndrome in the back. The teacher asked her again, “What do you think the pearl of great price is?” The young girl looked up with tears in her eyes and replied sheepishly, “I am.”

That’s a unique answer that most of us don’t consider when we see this parable in today’s Gospel. It is probably an essential answer to find. Jesus is the man who gave all He had, even His life itself to redeem us. An ancient hymn, located in the book of Phillippians says “he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” That is truly giving up everything! God came to earth, born as a human, that He might purchase with His blood the pearl.

He reminds us that we are each unique, each exceptionally valuable. He knows every one of us by name. He would die on the cross to purchase you even if you were the only human who ever accepted that offer of Heaven. How many of us who come face to face with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist glow? In the first reading, Moses is so radiant from his encounter with God that people get distracted by his face. So he has to put on a veil when they are around. Do we then go out in the world to show our face? Often more than not, we hide behind our masks afraid to show them who God is.

How then do we remain glowing in a world that wants to beat us down? A world that demands that we only show our Christian faith behind the walls of our Church? Saint Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast day it is today, sums it up in a few simple words: “Act as if everything depended on you, trust as if everything depends on God.” Let your face shine! Let people see Jesus through you. It is in your words, deeds, actions, and faith that they will see Him, and then He can begin to work on their hearts. The time to be veiled is over; now it’s time to let people see the genuine pearl that you are. Only by living the life you were created to live will you begin to understand how great a gift every person is, and can be.

 

A reflection on the readings for the feast of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, July 31, 2019.