Where Your Treasure Is, There Also Will Your Heart Be

June 22, 2007

Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 2 Corinthians 11:28-30

“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.” Matthew 6:22-23

Piety

Let us pray: God, you sent your Son to teach us that earthly riches are worthless. Help us comprehend that the cost of something is not the only measure of its value. Jesus, you told us that where our treasure is, there too will be our heart. Help us to make your Word our treasure and keep it in our heart every day. Holy Spirit, inspire us with your priceless gifts to be steadfast in our piety, study and action. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/062207.shtml

Where is your treasure?

Sometimes, you have to hand it to the marketers and advertisers. Where is your treasure? Is it stored up at a company called “Fidelity?” Or are you on the “Vanguard,” my fellow Christian soldier? Do you watch over your statements with Wachovia? Or do you Bank with America at the Bank of America? Appealing to our patriotism, emotions and security while pursuing record profits has not been all that bad for business lately.

While it is true that none of us have riches stored up like Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, however, when you consider the poverty of the world, any one of us living in Fairfax County, Virginia stands head and shoulders above most of the world in when you consider the size of our treasure chest. So, despite our wealth and poverty, who amongst us can afford not to be reminded of the transitory nature of earthly riches?

Riches do not buy peace of mind. They do not relieve the daily pressure upon us – our anxiety about life, raising our children, succeeding at our professions, caring for our homes, and – oh yes – living the challenge of Christianity.

Yet, if we are so anxious, where does our eye concentrate?

· On the pages of People magazine and newstands filled with the starlets and models, the most eligible bachelors and sexiest man alive?

· On the silver screen where Hollywodd will deliver “Oceans 13,” “Evan Almighty,” and Pirates of the Caribbean III”?

· On sports like Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, MLB, the College World Series, and that looming training camp for the Washington football franchise named after a slur on Native Americans? (Wouldn’t it be nice if we could know them by the content of their character instead of their preferred pharmaceutical indulgences or arrest records? Sadly, our pros sometimes act more like cons?)

Certainly one can argue that there is a force in the world – call it evil, call it temptation, call it sin, call it Satan – which seek to distract us from our pursuit of piety, study and action.

Some escape temptation by joining a convent or monastery where they can concentrate on nothing but work and prayer. But we don’t have to cloister ourselves away from the world. We just have to learn to recognize temptations for what they are and avoid them. The Ideal talk of a Cursillo weekend reminds us that we must have an Ideal and then seek it out. If you don’t know your Ideal, then just answer this question, “Where do you spend your free time and money?”

Action

Consider one temptation to which you usually give in. Give that up for one day. Then try adding a second day. Keep going until you have eliminated that temptation from your life for 30 days. Replace it with something that is consistent with your Ideal.