Find What You Desire

28 July 2010 Wednesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Jer 15, 10-21; Psalm 59; Matthew 13, 44-46

How important is finding your ultimate treasure or the pearl of great price? To find what we most desire may not be the easiest thing to do.

Our desires multiply and take different shapes and sizes. It is like our blog’s tag clouds. Sometimes one tag becomes more prominent; sometimes another takes the front. Every desire is nourished by the environment around us. Huge billboards create new wants; attractive television ads manufacture new needs.

So what happens to every single merchant who forage for the priceless pearl? What becomes of the person who hunts for the greatest treasure of all? Simple: the search becomes more difficult as we discern what we need from what we want. It becomes more challenging because there are more distractions in this day and age than years ago. Before, commodities were limited. Today, we have more options. Every advertiser compete for our attention. Our desires therefore shift like the waves of the sea.

But every challenge has a value. Our shifting desires would help us distinguish which is best from what is just good, from what is deeper than what is shallow, from what is true and authentic to our selves than what is false and pretentious. As we sieve through all these, we are enabled to see what among our desires and dreams are in tune with God. We hope that as we search our hearts, we find what would make our lives meaningful.

The Gospel today articulates what it is: we are all in a journey to finding God. And when we are able to find God, like discovering a treasure or the precious of all pearls, we will be willing let go of everything, including our own lives, for its sake. Jesus said that that is the way to find the pearl: we are to detach ourselves from our inordinate attachments.

When we find our deepest desire, we find our ultimate happiness. Everything else becomes dispensable.