TRADE-OFF

Wednesday of the 17th Week in Ordinary Time
Mt 13:44-46

Some years back when I had a very important decision to make, I consulted my three classmates who were ordained with me for the Archdiocese of Manila. Three classmates yielded three different views. Yet a common point united the three different opinions. My three classmate-priests advised me to seriously consider what I have to give up when I make my final decision on the matter at hand.

One of my classmates even talked about “trade-offs”. He meant the things that I must let go in exchange for what I can contribute for the greater good of the Church. In prayer, it dawned on me that my trade-off could be very frightening without the grace of God that supplies for my weaknesses. I realized that I had to give up everything to be able to make a good decision. I must surrender everything to the Lord and trust Him more fully. Everything – nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. My trade-off cannot be anything. My trade-off is everything.

That ‘someone’ referred to in the Parable of the Hidden Treasure and that merchant in the Parable of the Priceless Pearl knew this kind of trade-offs. They gave up everything in exchange of their great find. The Kingdom of Heaven is that hidden treasure, that priceless pearl, and nothing is worth it except everything.

Many of us fail to discover that hidden treasure, that priceless pearl, because many of us hesitate to let go of everything. We are afraid of the trade-off it requires from us. But the trade-off should not really frighten us because we can never be a loser when we trade with the Lord.

Of course, going to heaven is not like trading. Heaven is a gift gratuitously given. It is not a commodity on sale. That is why Jesus resorts to parables to explain the unexplainable, to show the invisible, to reveal what is hidden like the Kingdom of Heaven.