Friday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time
Where IS my heart? Where do I want my heart to be? Where is my love, my energy, my attention and focus hanging out? Where do I want it to be? Somewhere where “moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal”? I surely don’t like the sounds of that. That sounds like a recipe for disappointment and frustration, even anger for wasted precious time and resources. And I think that’s what today’s gospel passage from Matthew (6:19-23) has Jesus warning the disciples (and us) about.
“For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.” (vs 21) So, Jesus isn’t just being a party-pooper when he teaches, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth….” Could it be that he actually cares about us and wants us to avoid a life of wasted energy and meaninglessness, for our sake as well as the rest of the world?
The alternative? “... store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.” For that is where our hearts will reside. Where our “treasure” is. And what is it that I treasure? I hope: relationships more than things; love of neighbor more than love of money; a heart that seeks the light rather than the darkness of a self-serving life.
That is where I want my heart to be. It’s certainly not always there (maybe not even half the time), so I pray that this reminder will renew my focus, and perhaps yours as well. Let us pray for each other that we will be saved from the lure of false treasures and, instead, fill our hearts and lives with the even-more-beautiful-and-bountiful treasures that last an eternity, through Jesus, who really does care more than we can fathom. Amen.
~Eileen Miller