Luke 12:32-34. Jesus says "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourself with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail ... For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also."

Today's Gospel was the treasure buried in the field, and I was thinking on the part of that parable that says the man had to go and sell all he had in order to buy the field. He had to have nothing else to which he was clinging. He had to empty his purse of earthly things. This is similar to what Jesus is telling us here, God wants to give us the kingdom, but when we are clinging to other things, we do not have room for it.

I love that it is the Father's pleasure to give us the kingdom. It is a gift, pure and simple, nothing we earn. Yet we have to be ready to receive it. We have to empty ourselves of earthly things, and fill our purses, "pack for heaven," with our good deeds and right worship.