Msgr. Roger J. Landry
National Director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Daily Reflection for July 30, 2025
Here is the video of today’s reflection:
The Youtube generated transcript for today’s reflection is:
I’m Monsignor Roger Landry, National Director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States. Here at the sanctuary of St. John Paul II in Łagiewniki, Krakow, Poland, above St. John Paul II, you see, “Don’t be afraid” and “Open wide the gates to Christ,” two of his most famous sayings, “be not afraid,” recapitulating what Jesus said so many times in the Gospel that he used at the beginning of his pontificate and continue to reiterate throughout because he knew we’re in an age of anxiety. And “open wide the gates to Christ.” He wanted us fully to open our heart to the Lord Jesus. Today, July 30th, in the Gospel, we’ve got two of Jesus’s quickest and most powerful parables. He says his kingdom, the Kingdom of God, is like a treasure buried in a field or a pearl of great price that the man who finds it in the field or the merchant in search of fine pearl sells everything they have to purchase. And they do so with great joy because they know that even though they’re giving up so much, they’re gaining so much more. St. John Paul II always taught us that lesson. That’s likewise a lesson that’s taught to us by the saint we in the United States celebrate on July 30th who is Blessed Solanus Casey, the great Capuchin from Detroit who eventually came to Three Burrows in New York. Likewise in Indiana, but fundamentally famous in Detroit for the way he used to open the doors as a porter to all those who were trying to come to receive help when they were poor and hungry, or mercy when they were coming for confession. They teach us St. John Paul II, Blessed Solanus Casey, and missionaries, that the treasure of our faith is worth everything else in our life. That’s why all of them decided to give up the incredible good of marriage in order to teach people how to love like Christ, to give up property in order to become rich in what can pass through the eye of the needle, to give up their own will in order freely to obey the Lord, the same Lord Jesus who said that he had come into our world not to do his will but the will of the one who sent him and became obedient even to death, death on a cross. So today at this holy site, thinking about that treasure and thinking about that precious pearl, let’s take St. John Paul II and Blessed Solanus Casey’s advice and never to be afraid to open our life fully to the Lord Jesus. And we pray for all those in missionary lands that they’ll hear this call for missionaries and do the same. God bless you.
The Gospel reading on which the reflection was based was:
Jesus said to his disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,
which a person finds and hides again,
and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like a merchant
searching for fine pearls.
When he finds a pearl of great price,
he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.”