Earthly Treasures

Readings for Friday June 18, 2010

First Reading: 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 132
Gospel: Matthew 6:19-23

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

When I was younger, I collected two things: baseball/football cards and comics. I had binders full of baseball/football cards, I had some of my favorite players at the time along with complete sets of a certain year. I also collected comic books, I had all sorts of different superhero comics: Batman, Spider-man, X-Men, etc. I would always get lost in the stories of heroism and good versus evil. During my youth, much the money that I earned doing chores and various jobs, got spent on comics and baseball/football cards. While there is certainly nothing wrong with having collections, we must watch how much of our time, energy and devotion we give to collections.

In today's gospel, Jesus warns us of storing up treasures for ourselves, or in other words watch out of things that we are collecting. Our goal is to store up treasure in heaven, not on earth. Earthly treasures take many forms; money, wealth, power, cars, houses, anything that takes our time and attention away from God can be considered a earthly treasure. We must watch what each of us is spending our time gathering up for ourselves, because as Jesus said, "where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." If your heart isn't with the Lord, how can you gain eternal life? The Lord gives us complete and total love, all that He asks for in return is the same kind of total self-giving love, not holding anything back.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with having collections or from trying to earn a nice living; but we must always keep in mind if the earthly treasures are taking away from our heavenly treasures. If so, it might be time to cut out those things which take us away from the Lord.

Father above, we thank you and praise you for the gift of this day. Lord, thank you for all that you have blessed us with and for all that you give. Lord, help us to see that all we really need is you, and that anything else on this earth is simply a want, rather than a need. Lord, help us to persevere in this life and to only seek out your will. We pray for all of our priests, that they may be strengthened in their ministries and in their vows. We ask this all through Christ our Lord. Amen.