Buried Treasure at World Youth Day

Young people from all around the world have been arriving in Portugal this past week to gather with Pope Francis to celebrate World Youth Day. Officially the youth festival with the Holy Father runs from 1-6 August. But many have arrived early to participate in Days in the Diocese, a week with local young people and international pilgrims gathered for prayer, service projects, and fellowship ahead of the headlining event with the Pope. These exciting, busy, joyous few days are intended to highlight the richness of the Catholic faith in various cultures to remind young people that they are a tremendous powerful force for good in the world. Many will return home revitalized and inspired to live their faith more intentionally among their family and neighbors who often do not share the faith with the same enthusiasm and conviction. And while many places in Europe experience record summer heat, Lisbon will only see highs in the low 80s this coming week. However, humidity might be another story.

In 1985 Pope John Paul II intended that World Youth Day be celebrated in local dioceses every year. And a different city would host an international gathering every 2 or 3 years with the Holy Father himself in attendance. 15 other cities besides Rome have hosted the world festival. And I traveled with patience and eager expectation 3 times to join Pope John Paul II and once to join Pope Benedict XVI to partake in the festivities, sleeping on gym floors and open fields, ingesting unfamiliar foods, meeting interesting people, trading souvenirs since lost to junk drawers, celebrating mass with bishops with names a tad difficult to pronounce, getting drenched in sudden rainstorms, standing in endless lines for food and restrooms (not at the same time), rising before sunrise to walk a great distance to the closing mass venue, returning home exhausted and hoping to do it all again in a couple of years someplace else in the world I have never been before.

I was a priest just one year in 1993 when I traveled to World Youth Day in Denver CO, then in 1995 to Manila. In 2002 I was a priest 10 years when I traveled to Toronto, then in 2008 to Sydney. Each time I hungered for a deeply spiritual experience but came away empty. I was always impressed when the crowds of young people spontaneously burst into joyful song and dance in the city streets and swooned like the Beatles were in town when the popemobile sped by. I was very jealous as well because I didn’t feel a thing. And I wondered at times if something was wrong with me.

It’s true, our lives can be forever changed by a single event, a driving passion, or a truly remarkable person. When I was 4 or 5, I loved chicken noodle soup. One day I was stirring my soup a little too vigorously I ended up in the ER with severe burns. I still love chicken noodle soup but I’m more careful now when it’s piping hot. I played alto saxophone in college. And I will always remember my solo in the iconic Star Wars symphony. That piece will always have a special place in my heart. And I finally found buried treasure and a pearl of great price in Sydney in 2008. That’s why I haven’t been back to World Youth Day since. It took me a while to see that God was doing amazing and wonderful things all the time. And occasionally, I’m there when it happens.

In an old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip a few years ago, the precocious six-year-old named Calvin and his philosopher sidekick stuffed tiger named Hobbes were up to their elbows in dirt digging in the backyard for buried treasure. After finding a loaded billfold that belonged to Calvin’s dad, Hobbes observed that they were remarkably accurate about where they chose to dig. Without missing a beat Calvin declared, “Of course we knew to dig right here. We buried it here yesterday!” It must be a lot of fun digging for buried treasure. But it’s probably also less tedious and frustrating when you know exactly where to dig and what exactly you might find.

A treasure is something of great value that cannot truly be measured in dollars or favors or head of cattle, something we hold dear, something we would give everything up to have or possess. And every treasure comes at a price. What would you be willing to risk so to gain all? What would we be willing to give up so to gain the ultimate prize? Now the ultimate prize is not something of this world, not wealth or popularity, not material possessions or the envy and admiration of others. Instead, if I could ask God for anything I wanted, as God invited Solomon in the first reading, what would I ask? What would you ask? And just to keep this opportunity in proper perspective, we read how the young Solomon asked God for the gift of wisdom.

Wisdom, as that very popular prayer puts it, is the ability to tell the difference between accepting the things we cannot change and changing the things we can. It is the power to choose wisely, to weigh possibilities and consequences before making a judgment, and embracing responsibility for our choices. God didn’t hesitate to grant Solomon’s request. And to show his approval, God gave him even greater wealth than his father David, greater popularity, earthly riches, and the admiration and envy of all. Sadly, we might think God doesn’t do such things anymore. Still, if that’s what you aspire for, it’s not God you really want. What you want is a genie and three wishes.

Jesus invites us to consider a couple of parables. A very lucky man finds a buried treasure. Had he been working the field? Did he just stumble on it on his way home? It doesn’t matter. He goes off, sells all he owned, and buys the field. Another man finds a pearl of great value. He goes off too, sells all he owned, and buys the pearl. From these two parables we can gather that we should be willing to risk everything when we find a treasure of great value. But with a third parable, comparing the kingdom of God to a net thrown into the sea collecting fish of every kind, Jesus reminds us to choose wisely. When the day’s catch is sorted, the good fish is collected, and what is useless is thrown into the fire. This is wisdom, the power to choose rightly. How do we tell a treasure is of great value? If we were wise, we would know. But those who lack wisdom won’t be able to tell. So like Solomon, we should really ask for wisdom. And if God chose to give us everything else besides—wealth, popularity, material possessions, the envy and admiration of all—we would be more than grateful. When did the tabloids ever report lottery winners dealing wisely with their windfall?

The kingdom of God is that treasure in the field, that pearl of great price. If we gain the kingdom, we gain all. But do we truly want what Jesus offers? It used to wear me out to hear confessions. I felt like a sewer drain taking other people’s garbage. But in Sydney in 2008 I offered to hear confessions. And as I extended God’s mercy to those who asked, I knew I was sitting on buried treasure. My pearl of great price found me.