August 2, 2023

THERE IS A TREASURE IN YOUR MIDST

 

Reading today’s readings, the message that hit me was, “There is a treasure in your midst.”

When a grandparent is holding a brand-new grandchild, study their face. It’s radiant.

So too when someone gets the gifts of a swirl of pearls on a beautiful pearl necklace. Their eyes sparkle. Their faces become radiant.

The same thing happens when you see a brand-new diamond engagement ring on someone’s finger.

Get those images and you got today’s readings.  Moses’ face is radiant when he comes down off the mountain after experiencing God and getting the 10 Commandments. [Cf. Exodus 34: 29-35]

 My first assignment as priest was not Brazil – but the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I loved to walk the neighborhood – realizing I was walking through history. There were treasures in the fields of those streets. [Cf. Mt. 13;44-46.]

On one of the streets there was an empty lot.  There must have been an apartment house there.  That was gone.  The lot was filled with all kinds of debris and junk: empty beer cans, a bathtub, a toilet bowl, a burnt out car, paper, garbage, garbage, garbage everywhere.

Well one June morning – a Saturday – about 100 people showed up with rakes, shovels, trucks, top soil, a Bob Cat – that’s one of those machines that can dig, pick up junk, and level the ground.

They brought in top soil and planted a small vegetable garden. They installed a few park benches and cement platforms – a bocci ball court – planted flowers and a few small trees. They put up a neat white picket fence.

After everything settled – and got going – and people were in there playing games and talking with neighbors – walking by – faces no longer felt “ugly” – but felt the radiance of a beautiful spot in the neighborhood.