I looked out at the parking lot at fifteen minutes before nine and there were maybe two dozen cars and I said, "They're not coming today." Every Sunday I witness this miracle, the multiplication of the cars and the people.

The Olympics begin a week from next Friday, August 8. I'm looking forward to them. I'm sure most of you are as well. I love to watch all the events, the swimming, the track events but I think my favorite events are the gymnasts, particularly the women gymnasts. They're really not women gymnasts; they're girls. The men's team now, they're men; they're not little boys. For whatever reason, the women's team is composed primarily of girls. I think we have a team of six girls this year and we're very hopeful they'll do well. I was watching a little show about our star. Her name is Shawn Johnson. She's just as cute as a button. She's sixteen years of age. She's a sophomore in high school in Des Moines, Iowa. She's been practicing for this Olympics since the age of three, so she's kind of an "old lady" when it comes to gymnastics, sixteen. She works out and not in a casual way. They really work hard, not only in their various performances but in the calisthenics and weight lifting and the whole regimen of preparing for the event. She works out with thirteen other girls, four hours a day, Monday through Friday, six hours on Saturday, and, of course, she rests on Sunday. Sometimes they start their workouts as early as 4:00 in the morning. She's traveled the world, this little girl, this high school student and she's suffered more than her share of sprains and aches in obtaining what she has obtained thus far. She does all this for a goal, and that goal is the gold medal and I hope she wins it.

Jesus used a few other examples today of single-minded, complete dedication to win or to achieve a goal. He talked of the pearl merchant who sold everything he had because he found the perfect pearl. He simply had to have it to be completed and fulfilled. Another man found a treasure buried in a field, the owner didn't know it was there. He had to have this treasure so he sold everything else he had to obtain this one great treasure in life; total commitment to their dream, willing to sacrifice everything in order to achieve it. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 9, "Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last, but we do it for one that will last forever." So what is your goal in life? I hope I speak for every one of us in saying that our goal is citizenship in the kingdom of heaven, eternal life with God and hopefully with each other. That goal is worthy beyond any other goal and it takes commitment. It's not a part-time pursuit, a hobby. It means one hundred percent effort and it's worth it.

It must be, this heaven, must be our absolute top priority. We say with the psalmist today, "Lord, I love your commands. They're not burdensome to me. They help to lead me and guide me in my life's journey in a safe way along the right path so that I might achieve the goal that is most important." The scriptures say, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and everything else will be given unto you." It's important we try our best not to be distracted in this pilgrimage, distracted by the world and its allurements, especially the allure of possession and wealth.

I was talking to a cousin of mine yesterday afternoon, Kathleen. She lives in Monaghan, Ireland and we speak, at least, once a month. She fills me in on all the gab, on all current events. Most of my family lives in Ireland. I have about thirty first cousins who live about ten miles of each other and I'm the only one that gets along with all of them because I didn't live with them. So, Kathleen was filling me in on the news and she said that Helen had had twins. Helen is her niece and my second cousin. She lives in Dubai and my cousin Sean, Helen's Dad and Philomena, her mother are in Dubai now visiting the family and seeing the children. So Kathleen said, "What in the world took that woman to Dubai?" I don't know if you know about Dubai but it's a growing experiment, I think. It tends to be the transportation hub of the Middle East. It tends to be the financial capital of the Middle East. It tends to be "New York", "Paris", "Switzerland" of the Middle East and they're making great progress in that regard. I hope they're successful. The reason that Helen and her husband are there is that Helen's a nurse and her husband is an engineer and they're making lots of money. They've been there nine years. So Kathleen says, "I can't believe them leaving Ireland for that place, wherever it is." She said, "You can't get a decent pint, they tell me and the weather, oh the weather." I said, "Well. I'm sure they miss that wonderful Irish weather, the 330 days of wind and rain."

Did you watch the British Open last week? It was terribly windy and the first two days it was windy and rainy and cold. There was a Japanese fellow there who asked one of the BBC correspondents, "Why don't they play this in the summer?"

So, getting back to the story, I said to Kathleen, "Well, obviously they're there because of the money, lots of money." She said, "Look John, money is not everything. As a matter of fact, too much of it only confuses you and in the end it will mean nothing." I said, "Listen, I do the preaching in this family."

She's right of course and, by the way, Helen's a wonderful Christian lady and she hasn't abandoned God to seek money. The point was still a good one, I thought, that my cousin made. Anyway, I was desperate for homily material. I wanted to use my Irish accent. It annoys some of the native Irish but what are you going to do?

The price for this perfect pearl, this goal of ours is great but it's not complicated. We don't have to be a fanatic. As a matter of fact, St. Therese of the Child Jesus, the Little Flower teaches us the way for most of us to Christ is the "little way". I don't know if you are familiar with St. Therese. She wanted to be a nun, entered the Carmelite monastery, and was able through sheer force of personality and dedication to be admitted into the convent at about age sixteen, a few years before it was permitted. She died at the age of 24, tuberculosis. So she lived just these few years. When she died people grieved her but that was that. In the decades that followed, because of her writings the Church realized what a tremendous person she was and what a wonderful saint. As a matter of fact, John Paul II declared her a doctor of the Church for her writings and poetry. She said this which I think applies to most of us: "Love proves itself by deeds so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word and the doing of the least actions of love." She did just that. She never missed a chance to do something for Christ. She smiled at the Sisters that she didn't like. She put up with their criticisms and abuse, oftentimes always unfair. She ate everything so that she wouldn't insult the cook. Once she was accused of breaking a vase and she didn't. She got on her knees and begged forgiveness. No one told her how wonderful she was for these little secret humiliations and good deeds. Mother Teresa, another Teresa said it well, "We don't have to do great things to follow Christ, just little things with great love."

When the merchant in today's readings died that pearl meant nothing to him. When the treasure seeker died the treasure meant nothing to him. When you die and when I die it will not matter what we have acquired; only what we have become. Did we learn to love? Did we learn to forgive? Did we learn to help those in need? Did we stand up for the little guy? Did we encourage the weak and faint-hearted? Did we learn to turn the other cheek, at least a little bit? Were we committed to our family? Did we love our God?

Simple message today: Only God can give our lives true meaning. If we lose God, we lose everything. If we have God, we had everything.