There are two important messages in today’s gospel. One is of course talking about Heaven and the other is of course talking about judgement which brings up the subject of Hell. Let’s look at both of them.

When we see the pearl of great price, we see the story of one who sells all he has to purchase this pearl. Let us look at this process. If you find the most valuable thing you want to buy and you choose to sell everything you have, where are you going to start? I assume you are not going to start with your childhood Pez® dispenser regardless of how valuable it may be. You are going to start with your most valuable possession in financial terms. It is possible the Pez® is most valuable to you, but, obviously that does not mean it is going to be the most valuable monetarily. What is going to be what is most valuable? What represents every worldly value there is. Not only will it be worth a lot of money, but it will be worth everything valuable to every human being: security, prestige, independence, honor.

If you found the pearl of great price, would you sell every worldly possession to buy it? Understand what that entails. You are going to give up everything. People may mock your choice. You will lose your house and all its memories. You may lose your livelihood, for this pearl. However, Jesus does not say it is a pearl, it is the kingdom of God. So it is not a pearl, but it is this relationship with Our Lord. Are you prepared to lose everything to have Jesus take it all away so that you may deepen your relationship with him? House, security, money, so that you can rely on Christ and His house, security, money. Now you are not as independent as you were. You may have to literally pray for His assistance in paying your bills. However, you will find a greater treasure as He promises. The more you open yourself into that process the more it happens.

Jesus is not going to command you to sell all you have, if you give yourself over to Him and he feels possessions are in the way, you will lose them, but what He will replace them with will be more valuable to you than your possessions collectively. He will give you His presence in your life. It is powerful and He will transform you and make you holy. You can’t put a price on that.

The parables continue with a discussion about judgement and Heaven and Hell. It is the latter no one wants to discuss. but let’s discuss it. Is there a Hell? Yes? One of the problems is that there has been some bad teaching on Hell that leads good Christian people who seek to be in relationship with Jesus to believe that they are going there. That is a sin against the Holy Spirit. The Lord by dying on the cross shows, He will do all He can to ensure you will go to Heaven. So who goes to Hell? It says it right in the parable, the wicked. Who are the wicked?

Many people feel that God is just waiting to cast them in to Hell, especially here in New England, the home of “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” However, the homily was not Catholic and the teaching is not Catholic. It is not the perfect who go to Heaven, it is the repentant sinner. The obstinate sinner goes to Hell and who is the obstinate sinner.

Let me give you another word. If you think of the Church as the Body of Christ and then ask what is it that no body wants within it, the answer is simple: parasites. This is the obstinate sinner. He is the one who uses others for his gain and even destroys them in the process, but he cares only for himself and not his “host.” Is not this the reality of the true parasite. These animals in the real world literally suck the life out of their hosts and then once the host is no longer of any use to them, they move on to another.

This is the reality of mortal sin, it turns us away from God and turns us into selfish parasites. Do you want an example? Drug dealers are parasites, literally. Indeed, in the animal kingdom there are parasites that are so effective they take over the minds of their victims and become propagators of their new masters who are the parasites. Is not this what a drug dealer does? How can someone who lives in this mindset experience the Kingdom of God. He can’t. What is the greatest sin in the New Testament? Greed. The greedy person is a parasite. Some become enormously powerful, some parasites do, but when all is said and done they are nothing more than parasites.

All the major sins are actions and attitudes that when we look at them, if we embrace them they turn us into parasites. When we turn to the grace of God, we become givers not takers.

How can a parasite exist in the Body of Christ. They can’t and when we talk about Hell, we talk about a place where those who cannot exist in the living Body of Christ must go, for they are incapable of not destroying the Body of Christ. What is Hell then, imagine the most beautiful place on Earth filled with people who each spend their time trying to destroy everyone else so they alone can be the king and you have a look at Hell. A world of parasites feeding off each other.

That may sound terrifying and it is as terrifying as a movie. At the end of a horror movie, you walk away from that reality, the movie is over. If you seek Christ and His grace if your life, that image I just gave you of Hell is as relevant to you as the credits in a horror movie. What do the credits mean, the world you just entered does not apply to you.

That is why we have the sacraments, so that we may grow in holiness and become living members of the Kingdom of God. We choose not to be parasites, nor come under their spell, and the sacraments inoculate us from their power.

I’d like to end with an exercise that I learned while a hermit. Go out to a field or meadow. Sit on a rock or something. Quiet yourself down so that you are not really focused on anything. When you have quieted yourself completely down, you will discover that you are sitting in a super highway, but not of cars, of life. You will discover insect traffic all around you, each insect is too busy with its own work to be concerned about you. These are insects that are busy keeping the world going. None of them are parasites. We too are part of a similar world of working for the kingdom when we are doing God’s work, when we are allowing Him to transform us. Stay focused on the greatest of all treasures and you will find it in Heaven.