July 28, 2002

Father Owen's Homilies

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 28, 2002

I believe that it was Plato putting words into the mouth of Socrates, who said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

The first and the second reading for this week’s liturgy prompt us to examine our lives. God granted Solomon three wishes. Solomon wisely chose wisdom, the ability to use the mind and heart in making judgements. The wise choice brought him everything else.

Jesus in the gospel gives us today the images of the pearl of great price and the treasure buried in the field. The finders give up all that they had to possess the pearl and the treasure chest.

The recovering alcoholic who is lucky enough to get into a treatment center or not, must consistently ask, “What price am I willing to pay for sobriety? To what lengths am I willing to go to maintain it?” It is a matter of priorities. If the recovering addict has sobriety then there is the chance that other good things might happen.

So what would you ask for if God gave you the choice? It might be the wish to live forever. But that might be foolish because we have that promise already.

I think that I would ask for the grace to live consistently an other-centered life! That would be heaven on earth. To live a consistently self-centered life would be hell on earth.