ling." No, it is Jesus who is the merchant looking for a fine
pearl. And he finds one: it is the church! For it, "he went away and sold
everything he had and bought it."<P>

This is most instructive if you remember how a pearl is made. A pearl, you
know, starts out as an irritatedoyster! A grain of sand gets under the
oyster's shell. To the oyster that feels like crackers in bed do to us. It
is very uncomfortable, and the oyster sets about getting rid of it. What it
does is to cover the irritating grain of 