Abbot Columba McCann: People sometimes ask me, ‘Why did you want to become a monk?’ They don’t get a straightforward answer! We could also ask another question: ‘Why are we all here this morning at Sunday Mass?’ Why are we here? Go back fifty years, and going to Sunday Mass in Ireland was, for most people, simply part of Irish life, like the GAA and Guinness and having potatoes with your dinner. That’s not to trivialise the Catholic tradition in Ireland and the real deep faith of many people. But what I am saying is that being at Sunday Mass is no longer part of ordinary Irish life for most people. So why are we here?
Each of us would surely give a different answer. I’m wondering if the following kinds of answers might touch on the reality of why we are here? We’re here because somehow we get a taste, a hint of the flavour of something that is deeply satisfying, even if sometimes we get bored or distracted at Mass; because here we sometimes get the echo of a voice that is familiar and attractive; because we sense a connection that really matters; because something bubbles up that refreshes us; because, when we are here, something simple and wonderful occasionally dawns on us, or descends on us from out of nowhere; because we get an intuition of something that is actually more satisfying that all the many good things life has to offer; because there is a hint here of what really makes us happy.
Jesus says it’s like treasure buried in a field, or a pearl of great price.
When people ask me why I am a monk, they sometimes raise questions about apparent difficulties: no money of your own; no bank account; a celibate life; stuck in the same place; stuck with the same people; all that prayer; having to answer to a superior, and so on. I would say that all those limiting factors are put there simply to help us enjoy the treasure more fully.
Very similar demands, and sometimes far more, are made on people in family life, and also on single people living alone. The monastery is more like a learning support unit that makes it easier for some of us to see the treasure buried under our noses, if we want to see it.
King Solomon was asked, what do you really want? He asked God for the wisdom. He didn’t ask for other gifts like wealth or military success . Typically, God gave him wisdom, but also gave everything else along with it.
Jesus himself pointed out that if we give priority to the buried treasure, the pearl of great price, then we will also be given everything else we need for life.
So if each of us were asked, ‘Well what would you really like God to give you?’ There may be some very important and very good things we might be asked for: good health for ourselves and others, an end to financial worries, healing, reconciliation between people who are estranged, and more besides. But I could decide to aim for something bigger that will not exclude any of that. I could say, ‘Lord, there are many gifts that you already give. There are many more that I could ask for. But I dare to want more than that: I want the giver himself. I want you!’ As it says in the Book of Psalms, ‘The Lord is my portion and cup, it is he himself who is my prize.’
What do I ask of the Lord? I could say, ‘I want to live in daily companionship with Jesus Christ . If I have him, if I am always with him, then I have happiness and everything else in my life will have the best possible outcome. I ask also that the God will help me to let go of anything that gets in the way of that daily companionship with Christ, the pearl of great price.
And what happens at this altar is Jesus’ way of saying, ‘That’s what I really want to give you: here I am, for you, with you. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find. You have knocked on the door: I am opening it for you. Come, let us live our lives together.’ Here is the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price. It’s here for the asking. It’s presence is so subtle, so discreet, so humble, that you might overlook it. But life with Christ is a life of abundance.