Preached for the Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Mass readings:  http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/073113.cfm

 

                I’ve got a great new investment idea for you.  It comes with a return that beats any other investment available, in fact the return is literally out of this world and you should really consider it.  Now all it requires is that you sell everything else you have and give me the money and then you own the investment!  Sound good?            If this were an infomercial, if you have any sense, you’d have switched channels by now.  Or you’d be looking at me like I’m some kind of swindler or charlatan.

            But that’s the trade that Jesus is offering in this Gospel .  When you discover the Kingdom of Heaven, it’s like a buried treasure and you go, sell everything, just to buy that field. 

            Or it’s like the Texas Hold’em games you can watch on late-night TV – my favorite part is where the player, down to his or her last chips, pushes them “all in.”  Bets it all.  Win or go home. 
            I think that’s what Jesus is calling you and me to in this Gospel. 

            He’s telling us that the Kingdom of Heaven is something that can be possessed, right now, in this life.  It’s not only the reward at the end of a faithful life of service, it’s something we can desire right now.  And that it’s something we must pursue, and give up something in return for.

            He’s also telling us that it’s something urgent – like someone immediately going and selling everything to buy the field, so that nobody else beats you to the punch.  There’s an urgency there, it must be done Now, it’s not something that can wait.

            And He’s also saying that this pursuit of the Kingdom of Heaven is something that brings joy.  He says it’s like someone who, out of joy, sells everything to buy the field with the hidden treasure.

            This is a perfect Gospel for the occasion of today’s saint, Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus.  Ignatius admitted to once being a great sinner, someone who very nearly lost his life when injured by a cannonball.  But like Francis and Augustine, Ignatius had a great conversion experience, one in which he literally sold everything to follow the Lord, with urgency and zeal and, he found, this new path was the only thing that gave him joy.

            Perhaps you and I need this reminder today.  Perhaps you and I are lacking some of the zeal, some of the fervor, some of the joy in our faith that we once had.  Perhaps you and I are still holding on to attachments in our lives, bad habits or sinful inclinations, whatever it might be, that is keeping us from fully following the Lord.  By our partaking of His Sacred Body and Blood, may we receive the strength, and the grace, and the joy, of going “all in” for the Lord.