How do you imagine the Kingdom of Heaven to be? We are all aiming for it, what do you imagine it looks like? The most common image I have is from the old holy picture cards from my childhood, some of which I still have. Pictures of the Lord Jesus, Mary, or the saints in a neutral grey sky sitting on a cloud; a bit boring really. In Rome there are churches with painted ceilings, flat surfaces but painted in such a way as to be seeming to soar far above you crowded with angels and saints leading to the throne of God. Different perspectives, but what is the Kingdom of Heaven like to you? For the third successive week this Sunday Jesus tells us what the Kingdom of Heaven “is like”. It’s as though he is making his point through repetition. At the end of this Sunday's gospel he asks the disciples if they “get it”. They answer “yes”, perhaps, given Jesus’ repeated efforts, they were afraid to say no! Two weeks ago it was the parable of the sower; last week the wheat and weeds, the mustard seed and the yeast. This week it’s the treasure in the field; finding a pearl; and the fish and the dragnet. Again Jesus uses images that people could understand. It was quite common for people to bury valuables as there were no banks then as we understand them. Just think about the treasures found in our time in this country with a metal detector and spade! At the time of Jesus pearls were incredibly valuable. People had risk their lives to dive to deep depths in the hope of coming across an oyster with a single pearl in it. Pearls would commonly come from the waters of the Persian Gulf or the Indian Ocean. Of course Jesus and his listeners would be very familiar with the fishing net. The treasure and the pearl is Jesus using images to show the priceless value of God’s kingdom and the need for the follower to give up everything to be part of it. As with last week’s gospel, with regard to the fishing net, at the end of our lives, and ultimately at the end of time and history, each of us will be sorted either into eternal life sharing in the glory and majesty of God, or be cast aside for eternity where we will be conscious of, and lament forever, what has been lost. It’s a very difficult message but in all honesty Jesus could not be any clearer, and I would be lying to you if I say anything different. But Jesus wants us to inherit our birth right of heaven not through fear but through love. Not through the fear of punishment, but through a desire to see Him face to face forever, to be in his company, and in the company of Mary, the saints and those we love who, God willing, are there before us. Jesus wants us to share eternal joy where our joy will be complete, where those who mourn will laugh, and where the dejected and poor in spirit will rejoice. Jesus died and rose again for this very purpose. God our loving Father, who constantly looks for us, desires all people to be saved, not to endure the pain of eternal separation from Him. It comes down to us and what we decide. In all honesty living the Kingdom of Heaven in our lives through the love of God and each other is not easy. All of us know that it is a lifetime’s work. The life of faith is often with of two steps forward with one step back. But we are given the means. We have the teaching and example of Jesus. Baptism has washed us clean, and we can renew this time after time in the Sacrament of Reconciliation; we have been given the gifts of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation; and Jesus literally becomes one with us in the Eucharist. We don’t need to hunt for the treasure it is in our plain sight. We have all the tools we need to make the Kingdom ours, let’s put them to work in our lives and souls. Please accept an assurance of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions. God bless you. Fr Chris

Many of us are so used to living in urban environments that other than noticing the change in seasons in parks and gardens we have little familiarity with the rhythm of rural live. Like most people of my background, I would spend long weeks of the summer holiday on my grandmother’s farm. Everything was done by hand; my sister and I had to get used to making a contribution through the work we were expected to do. Jesus’ society was largely a rural economy. It makes perfect sense that Jesus often used examples of rural and ordinary life to make his point. We saw it last Sunday's gospel in the parable of the sower, and in this Sunday's gospel with the wheat in the field, the mustard seed, and the yeast. Why did He do this? Jesus always used images that people would instantly recognise, at the same time Jesus’ parables still invites the hearer to think and use their imagination. I recall that the best teachers I had at school where those that gave us the knowledge we needed couched within getting us to think about what was being taught. For Jesus sometimes He could be seemingly obscure in his teaching, and we see an example of how His friends ask him for an explanation. So, what is Jesus getting at this Sunday? All of Sunday's parables work a number of levels. Take the wheat and the weeds, all of us are called to be “good wheat”. Wheat is beautiful to see and it is not only a thing of beauty but also something that is sustaining and of great value. The wheat is an allegory for us. Yet an enemy is present – the devil – the weeds that Jesus refers to are darnel. Darnel is initially indistinguishable from wheat, yet it is toxic to it. It was an offence in Roman law to deliberately poison wheat in this way. The darnel had the potential to destroy the harvest. The poison of sin has the potential to destroy us. Making us toxic in this life, by bad words and actions, and ultimately condemning our immortal souls to hell for eternity where we will share the pain and misery of the devil. And what of the mustard seed? From small things big things grow. When we look at seeds it is hard to imagine the potential locked away inside them. The same is with us. Physically we start as a tiny collection of cells, yet we grow and mature. The church started with the 12 disciples and now there are 1.4 billion baptised Catholics. But there is something deeper. We need to cultivate, grow, and enlarge our souls. Our bodies grow but they also ultimately decay, our souls are immortal and their cultivation will enable them to shine out for eternity and be united with our renewed and perfected bodies in the new heaven and earth that is promised to us. And what of this new heaven and earth? We are told by Jesus on Sunday, as we are told by Him elsewhere in scripture, that the fusion of heaven and earth will happen at the end of time. There will be no more separation of heaven and earth there will be the potential for us to live in an “eternal now” in the presence of God. All the baptised are called to this but noting impure can be in the presence of God. We will be accountable for our actions or inactions; ultimately, we will either be wheat harvested for eternity or weeds thrown away. But be encouraged, we are invited to grow the mustard seed of faith in our lives and God in His love, compassion and mercy gives us the means to do this through the sacraments. There is no doubt that sometimes this will be easier than others, but our destiny, should we choose to accept it, is something extraordinary, it is for us to shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father, the invitation has been given to us, the seed of immortality is within us, it is up to us about how we respond. Please accept an assurance of my daily prayers for your needs and intentions. God bless you. Fr Chris