Following is the prepared text from Bishop Olmsted’s homily for the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

July 26, 2020

“Out of joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

In the parables we just heard, Jesus speaks of the ability to recognize something of great value when one finds it. Nothing is of greater value than recognizing Jesus and His Kingdom. Remember when He was walking in a large crowd with people pressing upon him from all sides? One person, only one, touched His garment and was healed. A woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for many years recognized Jesus as her Savior and knew that if she touched the hem of His robe, she would be healed. And so it happened. She recognized a treasure that others did not see, because she believed in Jesus.

The same is true of Veronica, who, along the way of the Cross, saw in Jesus being crucified what the crowd did not see. When Veronica wiped His face with her veil, she knew she was touching the face of God. And Jesus rewarded her faith by leaving a true image of Himself on her veil.

Saul of Tarsus had no intention to recognize the identity of Jesus as His Savior, as he was rushing to Damascus to apprehend all Christians there and bring them back to Jerusalem in chains; but he discovered that even though He hated Jesus and all He stood for, Jesus still loved Him and opened Saul’s eyes in the most unusual way. He blinded him and then spoke to Him, saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul of Tarsus was not forced to recognize Jesus, but when Ananias was summoned to Saul’s side to baptize him and assure him of God’s mercy, Saul accepted the gift of faith, and saw what He failed to see before. “Out of joy he went and sold all that he had previously held dear,” and with joy, he let faith in Jesus become the driving force in his life. The Kingdom of God is like that. To discover Jesus and His Kingdom is “joy touched with glory,” a joy so great that you can launch out into a whole new life, never counting the cost. That is what Saul and Veronica were ready to do. Until we are willing to make that renunciation, we shall not taste the peace of God’s Kingdom; we shall not know the joy that this world cannot give. Rich or poor, a person must let go of all he has to be able to see.

In the parable, the discovery of a treasure beyond all others lit a fire in the discoverer. After discovering it, he hid it, went and sold all he had, and bought the land where the treasure was buried. He saw that something radical had to be done; and he did it. So it was for the first disciples: as soon as Jesus called them, “At once they left everything and followed him” (Mt 4:20, 22).  But not all did so, for some were not ready to renounce their possessions. Remember the rich young man who came to Jesus and asked what he must do to gain eternal life.

Jesus told him, “If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions. (Mt 19:21-22)

Money cannot buy happiness. Quite the opposite. It can get in the way.

Of all the parables, none better describes what happened to Matthew the tax collector than this one. Imagine Matthew there in Capernaum, day by day collecting taxes, despised by everyone for being a puppet of the occupying Roman army, rich in dirty money, dirt-poor in friends, a man hated by others and perhaps hating himself. But then, to his surprise, one day the carpenter from Nazareth came by; the man who only recently had begun to work miracles in Capernaum and to preach, the man named Jesus who befriended poor fisherman and even healed the daughter of a despised Roman Centurion, stopped at his desk where he was collecting taxes. He looked Matthew in the eye (no one else did that), and He said: “Matthew, come, follow me.”

Matthew immediately go up, left everything, and followed Him. Never before had he known such joy. Yes, there was sacrifice entailed but never had he dreamed it possible to feel such happiness. How good it was to be in the presence of Jesus and His friends. The Kingdom of God is like that. In unexpected ways, in the least likely of times and places, Christ calls men and women by name, inviting them to leave everything and to follow Him.

St. Paul wrote of His conversion: “I have come to account all else as loss, as so much rubbish, if only I can have Christ and be given a place in Him.” To believe in Christ is indeed to possess “a treasure,” “the pearl of great price.” While it requires sacrifice to obtain, the sacrifice of leaving behind a former way of life, whoever pays that price finds joy. There is no joy like the joy that is ours when we put Jesus first in life; He is the only treasure that causes joy.

Once we have found The Treasure that is Christ and begun to live in Him, we discover “little treasures within The Treasure that is Christ.” We discover the rich blessing of the Sacraments of the Church, especially Confession and the Eucharist. We discover the Sacred Scriptures which enlighten our minds as they demand continual conversion. We discover brothers and sisters in Christ who are dearer to us than members of our family of origin. I could go on and on, and you could name “little treasures” yourselves that you have found as you have embraced Christ. On this 26^th day of July, 2020, I would like to recall one “little treasure” that many in the Church have discovered but that many others have not: the teaching of Pope Paul VI titled Humanae Vitae, issued on July 25, 1968.

Humanae Vitae contains the Church’s teaching on the cooperation of men and women with God in the creation of new life. It is arguably, too, the most controversial document of the last century. What made it a treasure and also controversial is its candid exposition of the sinfulness of contraception, precisely at the time when the so-called sexual revolution was sweeping like a tornado across the terrain of American society. While many in the mass media were celebrating “the pill” as a great gift to the human family, and proclaiming the liberation of men and women from the sexual inhibitions of the past, Saint Paul VI, was calling for a spiritual revolution, instead of a sexual revolution. He reaffirmed the constant truth that marriage and family are built on love that is free and total, faithful and fruitful; and thus a sacramental action reflecting the love of Christ for His Bride the Church.

Humanae Vitae remains in 2020, 52 years after it was issued, a “little treasure within The Treasure that is Jesus Christ.”  Yet sadly most of our fellow Americans have not yet discovered this treasure, to the peril of our entire society. The catastrophic results of the sexual revolution surround us. Walter Lipton said of the sexual revolution, “They promised us a paradise but led us into a wasteland.” The poet Jessica Powers saw it in an equally somber light when she wrote, “I saw the world kissing its own darkness.”  Until we accept Jesus as Lord and His wisdom about responsible sexual behavior, we shall walk in darkness. Like the rich young man, we shall not taste the joy of the Gospel.

The sexual revolution, which continues unabated today, mocks and derides the teaching of Christ. Its advocacy of sexual license has ripped a gaping hole in the very fabric of society, contributing to the breakdown of the family, the proliferation of abortion, the demeaning of women’s dignity, escalating divorce rates, and spiraling tsunami of child abuse and spousal abuse. Who could deny that something has gone terribly wrong with the sexual revolution? But throughout this time, and increasingly today, married couples are discovering the wisdom of this “little treasure” and realizing that authentic love always involves discipline and sacrifice: “Unless you take up your cross each day and follow after me,” Jesus says, “you cannot be my disciple.” To obtain the Treasure in the field, the man had to sell all he had. To obtain the pearl of great price, the merchant had to sell all his other pearls. To belong to Christ in 2020, or in any age, we must sell all we have, our old way of thinking and reasoning, and as St. Paul says, “put on the mind and heart of Christ.”

The Kingdom of God is a treasure, a pearl of great price. Every one of us is here at the Eucharist because we have discovered that treasure, that pearl of great price, worth “all that we have and possess.” Let us not be afraid to let go of what this world promises. It is counterfeit. Do not be afraid of the greatest treasure in the world: the joy of belonging to Christ.