It’s The Real Thing
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
2008-07-27
Matthew 13:44-46“It’s the real thing.”
I’m sure we’re all familiar with the slogan for the Coca-Cola bottling company from not so many years ago. Apparently, of all the available soft drinks, Coke proclaimed itself the real one. Obviously then, that meant that Pepsi, Fanta and Royal Crown Cola were anything but real. In fact, through the years, many advertisers and marketers have been fond of claiming that their product was the most real, the most true-to-life available. From GI Joes with “life-like” hair, to the genuine sparkle of Cubic Zirconia, to super-realistic stereo surround sound that makes you feel as if you are actually at the big game.
As universally popular as all this “reality” is for so diverse an array of products, they actually do have one thing in common. They are none of them real. No, it’s all an illusion. That’s right, you’re not at the game, you’re in your living room. It’s not actually a diamond ring, and GI Joe’s hair will never need to be cut.
And it goes much deeper than just the products we buy. The world is constantly presenting us with alternative realities, alternative lifestyles and alternative spiritualities.
But…it all seems so real. So much so that we are oft times confused by what is actually real, and what is fantasy. So, what is real? How do we know when we’ve found the real thing? How do we find our “treasure in the field” and our “pearl of great price?”
I’ll save you some time and the anguish of a life-long search. Reality surrounds you…here in this very place.
Refresh yourself with a splash of the waters of baptism as you dip your hands in the holy water font. Feel the warmth of the color-tinted sunlight streaming through the stained-glass windows. Smell the incense as it rises like our prayers to heaven. Hear the peel of the bells as they herald in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
This is real. This is the Catholic Church. And here is where you will find the Fullness of Truth. If you search your heart, if you trust your senses, you know it to be true. For we were created in the image and likeness of God, and His law was written on our hearts…and in our senses. We can know what is real.
When the world tells us there is no God, we can know the reality of belonging to a family – the family of God – through our Baptism.
This is the real thing.
When the world tells us there is no sin, we can know the reality of forgiveness through the graces found in Sacramental Confession.
This is the real thing.
When the world says that human coupling should not be bound by natural law, we can know the reality of God’s love through the indestructible bond of Holy Matrimony.
This is the real thing.
When the world says that there is no truth, we can know the reality of the Eucharist, the True Presence of Christ, Emmanuel, God With Us until the very end of time.
This is the real thing. And, there is nothing more real than that.
A story is told of a little girl who went shopping with her mother. In a store window, she spied an inexpensive necklace of fake pearls for only a dollar ninety-five. After a little prodding, her mother gave in a bought them for her. The little girl loved those pearls…and never took them off. The only exception was bath time, after her mother warned that if they got wet, they would likely turn her neck green.
One night, at bedtime, while talking to her father, he asked her, “Honey, do you love me?”
“Of course I love you daddy.”
“Will you give me your pearls?”
“Oh no, daddy. Not my pearls, I love them too much.”
The understanding father replied, “Never mind, sweetheart. Rest well.” And he lightly brushed her cheek, and then kissed her goodnight.
Some time later, her father was sitting with her again at bedtime. He asked her, “Honey, do you love me?”
“Of course I love you daddy,” she replied.
“Will you give me your pearls?”
She clutched her pearls tightly. “Oh no, daddy, you know I can’t give you my pearls, I love them so!”
“Never mind. Sleep tight, darling.” And he kissed her goodnight.
Then one day she came to her father distraught and crying. After so much use, her poor quality, fake pearls finally gave out. She held the broken strand in her tiny hand, and, raising them up to her father, she asked, “Do you still want them, daddy?”
Her father smiled. He took the fake pearls, and handed her a small, blue, velvet-lined box containing a beautiful set of genuine pearls. You see, he had them for her the whole time. He was patiently waiting for her to let go of what was false and short-lived, so that he could give her what was real and lasting.
When will we, too, let go of all that the world tells us is real, all that is temporal and transient, hollow and empty, and destined to become broken? When will we realize the Genuine Treasure we have found in the field, left for us by God Himself? When will we empty ourselves of the world, and fill ourselves with visions of the Kingdom of Heaven?
This is the Pearl of Great Price, the Church of Truth, the Church of the Sacraments, the Church of Jesus.
This is the real thing.