Word to the Wise
Friday, June 22, 2012 - Friday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[2 Kgs 11:1-4, 9-18, 20 and Matt 6:19-23]For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
It can be an interesting exercise to ask oneself about one's "treasure(s)." There are many ways to do this. For example, if one had to leave one's house quickly because of an approaching flood or forest fire, what would one take, knowing that everything else in the house woulld be destroyed. Another scenario might be the move from the big family home where one has lived for so long but which is now too large to take care of to a smaller place like a condo or assisted living. What does one bring? The decisions can be emotionally, spiritually and even physically wrenching! Jesus' words about the heart and its treasures are very challenging.
The process can be embarrassing. Does the statement about heart and treasure immediately make us think of material things? Or do we immediately think of persons instead? Knowing that relationships are very portable may make us take them for granted so that "treasures" can mean mementos, legal documents, computers, family pets. Jesus challenges us to know what our "treasures" truly are. I have spoken from time to time about the exercise on retreats with college students that challenged them to choose among the most important people, things and activities in their lives, and the difficulty of the choice. Real tears came to eyes before it was over! Jesus suggests that real treasures are those that cannot decay or be stolen. Can we identify those? On what have we set our hearts? AMEN
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