🌹Saint Rose of Lima, baptized Isabel Flores de Oliva, was born in Lima, Peru, in 1586. From a young age, she showed intense piety and a desire to consecrate herself entirely to God, taking Saint Catherine of Siena as her model. As a laywoman in the Third Order of Saint Dominic, she lived a life of extraordinary penance and prayer in the garden of her parents' home. She subjected herself to rigorous fasts, wore a crown of thorns hidden under roses, and endured great physical and spiritual sufferings, including calumnies, all for the love of Christ. Her mystical life was rich with experiences of union with God, and she offered her sacrifices for the conversion of sinners and for peace in her land. Canonized in 1671, she became the first native-born saint of the Americas and was proclaimed the patroness of Latin America and the Philippines.
📖 Introit (Ps 44:8, 2)Dilexísti justítiam, et odísti iniquitátem... Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. Ps. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. ℣. Glory be to the Father...
✉️ Epistle (II Cor 10:17-18; 11:1-2)
Brethren: He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. For not he who commendeth himself is approved: but he, whom God commendeth. Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly: but do bear with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
✝️ Gospel (Mt 25:1-13)
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to His disciples: The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field. Which a man having found, hid it, and for joy thereof goeth, and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a merchant seeking good pearls. Who when he had found one pearl of great price, went his way, and sold all that he had, and bought it. Again the kingdom of heaven is like to a net cast into the sea, and gathering together of all kind of fishes. Which, when it was filled, they drew out, and sitting by the shore, they chose out the good into vessels, but the bad they cast forth. So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall go out, and shall separate the wicked from among the just. And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have ye understood all these things? They say to him: Yes. He said unto them: Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven, is like to a man that is a householder, who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.
🤔 Reflections
💎The soul that consecrates itself to Christ as a chaste virgin, espoused to one husband, understands that it has found the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. For this pearl, who is Christ Himself, she willingly sells all that she has—not only material goods, but her own will and desires. "The treasure discovered in the field signifies the desire for heaven; the pearl of great price denotes the charm of the heavenly life. He who sells all he has is he who renounces the pleasures of the flesh and despises all his worldly desires in exchange for the heavenly life" (Saint Gregory the Great, Homily 11 on the Gospels). This total sale is the act of glorying only in the Lord, as the Apostle exhorts, for he who empties himself is approved by God. "Therefore, to possess Christ, let us lose all that is a burden to us. Let riches perish, that we may gain the pearl. Let our old life vanish, that we may be renewed by the newness of a holy life" (Saint Ambrose, Letter 37). The life of Saint Rose of Lima was precisely this divine transaction: she sold comfort, health, and the world's esteem to buy the field containing the treasure of intimate union with her heavenly Spouse.
🧐The Gospel of Matthew is the only one to present the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price. While Mark and Luke also contain parables about the Kingdom, such as that of the mustard seed, they do not include these two specific narratives that emphasize the supreme and incalculable value of the Kingdom, which leads to a total and joyful renunciation. The parable of the net, which concludes the passage, is also unique to Matthew and serves as a solemn counterpoint, linking the search for the Kingdom to the reality of the final judgment, a theme that Matthew develops with more emphasis than the other evangelists.
✒️Saint Paul deepens the theology behind the attitude of "selling all" described in the Gospel. In his letter to the Philippians, he offers a personal testimony that perfectly mirrors the logic of the merchant in the parable: "But the things that were gain to me, the same I have counted loss for Christ. Furthermore I count all things to be but loss for the excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord; for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but as dung, that I may gain Christ" (Phil 3:7-8). This passage is not merely an exhortation but a spiritual autobiography that gives flesh to the parable, showing that the "treasure" is not an abstract idea but the very person of Jesus Christ, for whom all loss becomes gain.
⛪The documents of the Church corroborate the truth contained in these readings. The encyclical Sacra Virginitas by Pope Pius XII describes consecrated virginity as a "precious pearl" by which a soul dedicates itself entirely to God, finding a spiritual freedom to be concerned with the things of the Lord. The Roman Catechism, in its treatment of the Final Judgment, details the separation of the good and the wicked mentioned in the parable of the net, stating that "a most rigorous separation will be made, without any regard for power or privilege, where the deeds of each will be weighed on the scales of God's justice," reinforcing the urgency of conversion and the search for the true treasure.
🧐 See English articles here.