Word to the Wise
Sunday, August 10, 2025 - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Wis 18:6-9; Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 or 11:1-2, 8-12; Luke 12:32-48 or 12:35-40]"Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, and inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no their can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." [Luke]
One of the constant themes of the Gospel According to Luke is the danger of material wealth. It is not a matter that material goods are evil in themselves, but that they can consume the person who puts trust in them. The last line in the quote above is one well worth considering. What and where is our "treasure?"
I have mentioned before in my reflections a retreat exercise from my time as a campus minister at the U. of Arizona. The retreatants were seated in a big circle and given slips of paper. They were to write down the five most important people, the five most important possessions and five most important activities in their lives. Then they had to decide in what order they would give up these items by crumpling the individual slip of paper and tossing it into the middle of the circle. The mood in the room became serious and somber very quickly. They were discovering their true treasures.
What constitutes a "Christian lifestyle?" What do we truly need - not what we want? What is our true security? The parable of the Rich Fool in Luke's gospel [12:13-21] is an illustration. His faith was in his barns and he could not share his abundant crops with the hungry. Both God and neighbor did not matter.
"Treasure in heaven" may seem in our consumer/materialistic culture to be "pie in the sky, bye and bye," but if we divorce our faith from our lifestyle, we will put the ultimate treasure out of reach. We can start with making our neighbors our treasures and helping them. The line from Victor Hugo and Les Miserables is worth considering: To love another person is to see the face of God.
"Treasure hunts" can be entertaining, but when the hunt has to be within us, it can be a sobering but ultimately life-changing exercise. The Kingdom of God awaits discovery and it may be closer to us than we realize. AMEN