Sunday Readings for July 25-26, Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
By Lyn Zahorik | For On Mission
I love going to thrift stores — not just from an economic standpoint, but because I’m convinced that — somewhere between the mismatched mugs and 1997 bread machine — a treasure with my name on it lies there. I’ve had moments when something on a shelf seems to call out to me like the Holy Spirit whispering, “Lyn … this is the one.”
Except it’s not when it is a porcelain cat. A porcelain cat wearing a bonnet and holding a basket of strawberries. The Holy Spirit still maintains this was a questionable purchase. I, on the other hand, remain confident that, when this cat eventually makes its way to my next rummage sale, someone will stop by who has been praying — truly praying — for a bonnet-wearing, strawberry-holding cat.
Honestly, that’s exactly the kind of energy Jesus is tapping into in the parables we hear this Sunday.
Jesus says the Kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field — something ordinary, dusty, and easily overlooked. A field — the kind of place you might walk past without a second thought. Then he compares that treasure to a pearl; not just any pearl, but one that can be recognized only if you’ve trained your eyes to see value where others see nothing special.
In other words, Jesus is describing a God who hides glory in plain sight — not to trick us, but to shape our hearts. The Kingdom isn’t flashy or obvious. It doesn’t sit on a pedestal with a spotlight and velvet rope. Instead, it’s tucked into the everyday: the kindness you didn’t expect; the forgiveness you didn’t think you could give; the quiet moment of peace that finds you; the person who shows up just when you’re falling apart; the grace that grows slowly — until one day you realize you’re not the same person you used to be.
The treasure is always there — but only the seekers find it. If you walk into a thrift store, convinced everything is junk, you’ll probably leave empty-handed. But if you enter with curiosity, hope, and a willingness to dig, you might discover something worth far more than you expected.
The Kingdom works the same way. Jesus isn’t praising the wealthy or the lucky — he’s praising the attentive. The ones who keep their hearts open. The ones who believe God hides holiness in the ordinary. The ones willing to “sell everything” — to let go of cynicism, fear, pride, or the need to control — to receive the deeper joy waiting underneath.
The Kingdom isn’t for the perfect; it’s for the persistent. It’s for people who keep showing up, keep looking, and keep believing that God is still at work — even when life feels like a clearance rack of disappointments.
And maybe that’s the real treasure: discovering God already present in the places we least expect — quietly waiting for us to notice.
P.S. For sale: one porcelain cat wearing a bonnet and holding a basket of strawberries. Purchased for $2.99 — now available for the bargain price of $10.
The readings for Sunday, July 26, 2026, are available at Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB.