Discretion

What rose my eyebrows and drawn my interest in tomorrow's Gospel, as I was in the process of working on my Sunday homily was the behavior of the person who found the treasure in the field and hid it again...Then went and bought the field without hinting to anyone what he found in that field. Why?
 


Discretion is the keyword here. Discretion in treasuring what is most valuable and important in our lives. Jesus teaches us this grand attitude, so intrinsic to well mannered, elegant and caring person...

In another place in the Gospels, Jesus cautions us not to throw our pearls in front of a herd of pigs as they will trample upon them...

Discretion in preserving and keeping out of streetlights what is most important in our lives, most valuable, most precious. This is a sign of wisdom and experience, knowing that the world is full of jealous people, who want to rob us of our happiness, our treasures. If I expose myself, if I share with them my joy and happiness, if I show them what is most holy, most precious to me, they will want to rob me of it, they will try to deny me my happiness...

I never understood explicit, ostentatious behaviors of people declaring their infinite love to their partners, kissing in public and doing other things like that. I never understood people who turn their homes into devotional shops, displaying numerous pictures, rosaries, screaming all over the place about their love of God and devotion. False. I never understood people boasting of their qualities, successes, skills, promotions, you name it. I never liked people who show off, pretending they are something more than they are in fact...

The Gospel of tomorrow's Sunday reminds of discretion. The lifestyle of a follower of Christ is that of discretion. Jesus told that not the one who screams - oh Lord, oh Lord! - will inherit the Kingdom of Heaven but the one who fulfills His will. Not the one prays in the corners of streets so everyone sees them, but the one who enters the privacy of his/her heart and whispers to  the Lord in secrecy - I love you...

If I love someone, I will surely not tell anyone. The love is only for that person I love to see and appreciate. If I love the Lord, I will not hang different religious articles on me or pin on my garment to show others how pious I am. No, I will enter the empty church and will hide myself from others' eyes, being with the One I love in privacy. If I am in the church in communal celebration, I will not draw people's attention even if I am in the center, celebrating the Mass, avoiding strange gestures, movements, or changes in my voice pitch. I will try hard to be transparent and not to cover the Lord present in His community with my ego...

If I fall in love with someone, I will remain drawn to her/him, cherishing the treasure and getting to know the treasure more and more in discretion, then if I am convinced that the Lord's will is to seal this bond in marriage, I will do so in due time... Without trumpeting around right from the beginning about the fact that I am attracted to someone and calling it love immediately...  and showing off by public displays of affection that has very little in common with a true love...

True love does not like direct sunlight, wind, public exposure, open doors and windows, announcements... It thrives and grows on discretion, whispers, soft looks, intimate presence and shy smiles, light touches, little gestures...just like Jesus showed us in His daily life...