Sunday, July 27, 2008 Lagura: The treasure hidden within By Fr. Flor Lagura, SVD in the service of the word
HE was a struggling artist whose passion for painting gave him a strange look, a behavior yet more strange, and a health doctors had nightmares with. In dire need of medical help Vincent consulted with a doctor. Unable to pay his bill, Vincent presented the doctor with a painting which the latter promptly buried in his basement. Many years later curious new tenants searching through the basement of the doctor’s house discovered buried in some other junk the painting: a work of Vincent Willem Van Gogh. Its value is way out of this world.
In his sheer generosity God has gifted us with life whose possibilities are enormous. Unfortunately not too many value it properly or show gratitude for it. Moreover, God has given us the gift of faith which undeniably changed and enriched our lives at times by means of challenges thrown our way, at other times with firm yet gentle direction.
To some, as in the case of Solomon, God gave one of the finest gifts of all: wisdom which goes beyond and finely complements knowledge and understanding. Wisdom, also known as “the heart which understands” is far more precious than earthly wealth. (1 Kings 3:9)
Many centuries later, in the 17th century France, there lived a man who did not care so much about earthly riches. His name: Blaise Pascal. He was so gifted with such a superb intelligence that he could think of novel and radical mathematical formulae. He also came up with the first known computer. Like Solomon he searched for something really worthwhile in life, and in his earnest efforts to discover that which really matters, Blaise Pascal phrased the well-known serenity prayer:
“Lord, grant me the courage to change the things that I can change the patience to accept the things that I cannot change and the WISDOM to know the difference.”
All throughout his life he grappled with the question of the God whom he really believed in. Friends thought for a while that he had given up his faith, the precious gift his good Catholic parents had given him. When he died, sadly alone in the huge house he was living in, friends discovered in the inner pocket of his coat a piece of paper in which Pascal had scribbled: “(I firmly believe in) the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.”
Each one of us has his own beautiful story of our search for, discovery of and the sacrifice made for that treasure that really matters.
“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.” Matthew 13:44
