Many years ago, a geologist by the name of Dr. Williamson was doing some work in Tanzania. One day while driving in a remote area his four-wheel drive vehicle became stuck in the mud up to its axles. Pulling out his shovel, Dr. Williamson began the unpleasant task of digging the vehicle out. After digging for a while his shovel uncovered a pinkish colored stone of some sort. Since he was a geologist his curiosity was naturally peeked, so he picked up the stone and cleaned it off. The more mud he removed the more excited he became; he could hardly believe what he saw—the stone was a diamond. Finding any diamond in this manner would be exciting enough, but what Dr. Williamson found became known as the famous pink diamond of Tanzania. The stone today sits in the royal scepter of Great Britain and Dr. Williamson is known around the world for his find—as accidental as it may have been.
Everyday there are Catholics, who being unfamiliar with their faith, are lead away, enticed by what appears to be priceless jewels. Many of those who have been enticed to leave in recent years claim they have never heard the gospel proclaimed in the Catholic Church. But if they only understood, as Cardinal Avery Dulles once stated, “Who it is that is really speaking when the gospel is proclaimed from the pulpit, or who comes to them in Holy Communion, or who forgives their sins through the ministry of the priest in sacramental absolution, they could hardly feel as they do” (JPII And The New Evangelization, Ignatius Press; p. 37).
Jesus taught that, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46).
Burying valuables in the ground may sound strange to us but it was common practice in the first century. Today we use banks but in those days there were no banks for the common people; only the wealthy had access to such institutions. I’m sure you have heard stories of people not trusting banks so they hide their money or other valuables under a mattress or somewhere else in their house. That’s exactly what people did in the first century. But instead of hiding it under a mattress they buried it in the ground.
In the second parable we find a merchant looking specifically for beautiful pearls. It was common practice in those days for entrepreneurs to look for pearls to sell and at the same time look for high quality pearls for themselves. Pearls were viewed in the first century in the way we view diamonds today. They were the most valuable gems in the world at that time. If you owned a pearl you owned a fortune. So it was quite common for people to invest in them.
The Jewish Talmud said, “Pearls are beyond price.” The Egyptians actually worshipped the pearl and the Romans copied that practice. When women wanted to show their wealth they put pearls in their hair. When a Roman emperor wanted to boast of his riches he would dissolve pearls in vinegar and then drink them in his wine, in much the same way a millionaire might light his cigar using a hundred-dollar bill. The scriptures also stress the value of pearls. Jesus stated in Matthew 7:6, that we are not to cast our pearls before the swine. In other words, “Don’t give something of such great value to a pig; it’s a foolish thing to do.” In Revelation 21, St. John describes heaven as having streets of gold and gates of pearl. Tremendously valuable!
Both of these parables teach us about the incomparable value of the Lord’s kingdom, the Church. The pearl is an especially appropriate figure for the Church; it is the only gem that cannot be improved on by man. Think about it! All other jewels have to be cut and polished by skillful craftsmen before they have value as gemstones. But the pearl is perfect when it is found. Cutting or polishing can’t improve it. In fact, one cut from a human hand and a pearl is worthless. This is why the pearl is an appropriate symbol for the Church.
The word “Church” (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to “call out of”) means convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as His holy people. By calling itself “Church,” the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is “calling together” His people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means, “What belongs to the Lord.”
In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body (CCC 751-52).
Everyday there are Catholics, who being unfamiliar with their faith, are lead away, enticed by what appears to be priceless jewels. Many of those who have been enticed to leave in recent years claim they have never heard the gospel proclaimed in the Catholic Church. But if they only understood, as Cardinal Avery Dulles once stated, “Who it is that is really speaking when the gospel is proclaimed from the pulpit, or who comes to them in Holy Communion, or who forgives their sins through the ministry of the priest in sacramental absolution, they could hardly feel as they do” (JPII And The New Evangelization, Ignatius Press; p. 37).
Jesus taught that, “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:44-46).
Burying valuables in the ground may sound strange to us but it was common practice in the first century. Today we use banks but in those days there were no banks for the common people; only the wealthy had access to such institutions. I’m sure you have heard stories of people not trusting banks so they hide their money or other valuables under a mattress or somewhere else in their house. That’s exactly what people did in the first century. But instead of hiding it under a mattress they buried it in the ground.
In the second parable we find a merchant looking specifically for beautiful pearls. It was common practice in those days for entrepreneurs to look for pearls to sell and at the same time look for high quality pearls for themselves. Pearls were viewed in the first century in the way we view diamonds today. They were the most valuable gems in the world at that time. If you owned a pearl you owned a fortune. So it was quite common for people to invest in them.
The Jewish Talmud said, “Pearls are beyond price.” The Egyptians actually worshipped the pearl and the Romans copied that practice. When women wanted to show their wealth they put pearls in their hair. When a Roman emperor wanted to boast of his riches he would dissolve pearls in vinegar and then drink them in his wine, in much the same way a millionaire might light his cigar using a hundred-dollar bill. The scriptures also stress the value of pearls. Jesus stated in Matthew 7:6, that we are not to cast our pearls before the swine. In other words, “Don’t give something of such great value to a pig; it’s a foolish thing to do.” In Revelation 21, St. John describes heaven as having streets of gold and gates of pearl. Tremendously valuable!
Both of these parables teach us about the incomparable value of the Lord’s kingdom, the Church. The pearl is an especially appropriate figure for the Church; it is the only gem that cannot be improved on by man. Think about it! All other jewels have to be cut and polished by skillful craftsmen before they have value as gemstones. But the pearl is perfect when it is found. Cutting or polishing can’t improve it. In fact, one cut from a human hand and a pearl is worthless. This is why the pearl is an appropriate symbol for the Church.
The word “Church” (Latin ecclesia, from the Greek ek-ka-lein, to “call out of”) means convocation or an assembly. It designates the assemblies of the people, usually for a religious purpose. Ekklesia is used frequently in the Greek Old Testament for the assembly of the Chosen People before God, above all for their assembly on Mount Sinai where Israel received the Law and was established by God as His holy people. By calling itself “Church,” the first community of Christian believers recognized itself as heir to that assembly. In the Church, God is “calling together” His people from all the ends of the earth. The equivalent Greek term Kyriake, from which the English word Church and the German Kirche are derived, means, “What belongs to the Lord.”
In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly, but also the local community or the whole universal community of believers. These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body (CCC 751-52).
The Roman Catholic Church is a divine institution, designed by a perfect God. Like the pearl any attempt on the part of man to change or alter the Church robs it of its perfection. Its not the Church of some man, but a Church whose builder and chief cornerstone is Christ Jesus. Christ is the head of the Church and therein lays its value.
