And doing so, leads to the joy of the Gospel, which fills the hearts and lives of those who have found Jesus. "Those who are saved by Him are freed from sin, sadness, inner void, and isolation," he said. "With Jesus Christ, the joy is always born and reborn."
Today's Gospel urges us to contemplate the joy of the farmer and the merchant in the parable, a joy that is for each of us to discover in the "consoling presence of Jesus in our lives."
And this presence, Pope Francis said, is one that transforms our hearts, opening us up to the needs of our brothers and sisters, in particular those that are weaker than us.
"Let us pray, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for each of us to witness, with daily words and gestures, the joy of having found the treasure of the Kingdom of God, that is, the love the Father has given us through Jesus," he concluded.
After praying the Angelus, Francis noted that today we remember the World Day against human trafficking, leading those present in a 'Hail Mary' for the victims of trafficking and for the conversion of the hearts of traffickers, calling the modern form of slavery "an aberrant plague."
"Each year, thousands of men, women and children are innocent victims of sexual and organ trafficking, and it seems that we are so accustomed to seeing it as a normal thing," he said. "This is ugly, it's cruel, it's criminal!"
Hannah Brockhaus is Catholic News Agency's senior Rome correspondent. She grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and has a degree in English from Truman State University in Missouri.