The Kingdom of God is within you....

'"The Master stands by her side, and opens the thirteenth chapter of St. Matthew.  He bends down over her , and with the finger of His right hand, points to a passage that will make more concrete her meditation on the purpose and beauty of her vocation.  "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a treasure hidden in a field."  Her own soul is that field, and hidden there she discovers, to her inexpressible delight, the kingdom in which Christ reigns...'The Kingdom of God is within you.'

"The treasure in the field is the gift of sanctifying grace hidden in the soul, which makes that soul God's dwelling place.  Here she must find Him.  She must wait upon Him, learning to present her days, her hum-drum tasks to Him, for His blessing and approval, rigidly excluding from her heart whatever might displease Him.  He thus becomes the center of her life; love of Him becomes the all-absorbing interest of her thought and attention, and growth and increase of grace- by which she shares in His life...become the one task before which all others must yield."

"As Jesus stands near her with His finger still on the open page, He reminds her that the man who found the hidden treasure was FILLED WITH JOY!"
(Taken in part from, 'The Nun at Her Prie- Dieu', by Robert Nash, S.J.)


Heavenly Father, never let me forget that You dwell in my own soul!  All I have to do is quiet myself enough to share an intimate, loving relationship with you!  It is only in this little hidden place that I am truly who I am meant to be!  My soul is Your little pearl, and Your love for me is the exquisite treasure chest,that took me so long to find...even though it was within me the whole time!  In this little place that we share, if it be Your will, continue to fill me with Your very self, my JOY!