The 17th

Most students go to school to gain skills and education needed to live successfully. If a student wants to be a doctor, he/she needs to prepare for it by going to school and learn the knowledge necessary for the said profession. He/she has to devote his/her time to studies until he/she achieves his/her aspiration. And when he/she finally becomes a doctor, he/she enjoys being one and protects the dignity of his/her profession. In saying this, it can also be said that once a person values something, he/she will do everything to keep it.

The Gospel according to Matthew 13: 44-52 somehow tells us the same thing when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Jesus said that the Kingdom of God is like a treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. He valued the said treasure but he did not have money to buy the treasure itself. Instead, he sold all that he had just to buy the field where the treasure is located. The man did everything just to have the treasure. In saying this, it can also be said that once a person values something, he/she will do everything to keep it.

Now, if we ourselves value eternal life, then we have to do everything to gain it. But just as the man in the parable who could not buy the hidden treasure itself, we too cannot afford to gain eternal life by merely relying on ourselves or on our own efforts. Instead, just like the man who just bought the field in order to get the treasure, we too can do something in the field which is the Church. It is in uniting ourselves with the Church that we can also unite ourselves with God. We become united with God through the sacraments  which Jesus has offered us in the Church. Thus, our attendance during the mass and in other liturgical activities of the Church indicate how we value eternal life. By going to the Church, we show how we value eternal life in heaven with God. By doing something good in the Church, we manifest our desire to enter the Kingdom of God and receive God's gift of eternal life.