I’m not a parent but I know that the very first game children are taught is…no wait…they are not taught or shown or coaxed on by their parents…

Their very first game is “Hide and Seek.” “Can my friend find me behind the couch?” “I’ll hide behind the door, it’ll drive my mother crazy.”

Jesus asks if we can find, uncover, unveil and then cherish the buried treasure. The hidden treasure.

The hidden that is not so hidden – it’s you and me. The other childhood game that is not taught but instinctual is dressing up to look like someone else. Very similar to “Hide and Seek.” Both are disguised to be where you are not or to be what you are not. (I look in the mirror and say to myself, “Good morning Brad [Brad Pitt].” The mirror yells back at me, “Yeah, good luck Joe!”

Those childhood games continue throughout our lives, only in adult forms. So often fashionable and acceptable but rarely risky. They are still childish but we still seem to love playing them.

“Where your treasure lies is where your heart lives,” Jesus says to us. What we think is elusive becomes obviously clear when lived through faith. When someone tells me that “I’m not a religious person, I’m spiritual,” I think to myself that only means that you get to sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Our treasure is captured beginning in this place. With the Eucharist to support and nourish us, we are able to take off our masks, even if for a short time; we are able to act humbly in an effort to make it more sincere in our lives; we are empowered to reveal our shortcomings, even if only in silence within this Body of Christ.

Jesus talks about passing possessions when the irony (correctly used here, by the way) is that Jesus possesses us all in mind, heart and soul. Jesus keeps saying to each of us, “I see you. Can you see me? I know where you’re hiding.”

Weird people love to talk about the devil possessing you. But, it’s the wrong noun. The correct proper noun is the man Jesus Christ. Stripped of his clothes (only to embarrass him), placed with a crown of thorns (to make him look who he is not), a purple cloak around him intended only for royalty (when he’s the servant to the least), along with the wrong inscription placed at the top of his cross (because his dad is the “King of the Jews,” not the Son.) You want to talk about “Hide and Seek” and wearing a disguise? Oh how about when folks thought Jesus was the new and improved John the Baptist? He wasn’t. No mask and no disguise.

The treasure, folks, is you and me. This treasure is lived through me but it needs you. (I think that’s called “church.) Every single time when you admit something to yourself, how many of your friends will quickly reply, “I wondered when you were going to see that?” They see it in us before we admit it about ourselves. (I think that’s called “evangelization.”)

Each of our seven sacraments is an unveiling from what was to what can be. Or better said, they are who you thought you were to who you really are. You don’t play “Hide and Seek” with Baptism (inherited sin to a new life), Confession (what happened to “Who I want to be?”), Confirmation (my parents made me do it, but I believe I want to do it), Marriage (from two to one, but still two) or Holy Orders (and, believe me, I’m thoroughly enjoying every minute of it). Sacrament of the Sick, destroying the bridge between life and death, and the Eucharist which always timely places us in that timeless “in-between” time of life.

With your support and prayers, I can admit to myself the person that I am meant to be. And, with God’s grace, I am able to do the very same for you.

We all know the names of all our bodily organs. Which organ was not created by nature but created by God and pulsates within us?

Doesn’t the law say that “9/10’s is possession…”?

I really don’t mind this authentic treasure hunt. The beautiful but troublesome treasure hunt that is this life. It’s been blessed by God and the precious treasure is there for the digging.

Anyway, Brad’s getting to look old!