WHERE IS OUR TREASURE?

June 18, Friday

Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

 

      In defending his ministry, Paul boasts of all he has done and suffered in the service of the Gospel of the young Christian communities. These sufferings affect and hurt him, for they bring out his human frailty. But he goes on single-mindedly because God is his strength and his treasure, the light brightening his whole being.

      What are the things that preoccupy us, that are constantly on our minds? The answer to this question will indicate what our values are, “where our heart is.” For many high-minded and dedicated Christians, these values will rarely be as crude as mere pleasure seeking and a hunger for material wealth and comfort, though these too are not always ruled out completely. But what about the ambition for power and promotion, the tendency to dominate others and to shape others in our own image and likeness rather than God’s? What about making ourselves the center of the world? Where do we look for “the one thing necessary”?

 

First Reading: 2 Corinthians 11:18,21b-30

Since you sit there in the judgment seat observing all these shenanigans, you can afford to humor an occasional fool who happens along.

You have such admirable tolerance for impostors who rob your freedom, rip you off, steal you blind, put you down—even slap your face! I shouldn’t admit it to you, but our stomachs aren’t strong enough to tolerate that kind of stuff.

Since you admire the egomaniacs of the pulpit so much (remember, this is your old friend, the fool, talking), let me try my hand at it. Do they brag of being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match. Are they servants of Christ? I can go them one better. (I can’t believe I’m saying these things. It’s crazy to talk this way! But I started, and I’m going to finish.)

 

Gospel: Matthew 6:19-23

“Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

 “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
you are the origin and purpose of all,
the meaning of our existence
and the goal of all we do.
We pray you today:
draw us out of our little self-created worlds
and open us to you and your kingdom.
Be yourself the precious pearl of our lives
and let each person around us be
the oyster shell in which we find that pearl.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Reflection:

“A tree does not eat its fruits.”

Is it possible to live in this world without the basic financial backing or material riches? The story of the creation in the Book of Genesis gives an important lesson for our reflection. When God created the human being – the crown of his creation, he had already put in five days of work – to create everything that humans would need – that they would not be in want of anything. God created the universe and brought man into it and said – this is all yours! Wealth and not poverty, in fact wealth in abundance was the original plan of God.
But the evil of selfishness, greed and jealousy gripped the human heart and the divisions between mine, his/hers and yours also began to surface simultaneously from the beginnings of human history. The stories of Adam blaming Eve and Eve blaming the snake and later Caine killing his brother Abel were all results of selfishness, greed and jealously. Therefore, poverty was not intended by God, but humans created it and perpetrated it.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus invites his disciples to identify and treasure the true wealth in God, instead of gratifying one’s greed for the riches of this world by storing up earthly treasures for themselves. Genuine treasures in heaven are our capacity for love and thirst for truth.
While preaching the Beatitude, Jesus had promised that the pure in heart would see God and the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. The presence and the impact of Jesus is that ‘great light’ in the world and this light would equip the disciples to fulfil Jesus’ commission to be the light of the world
As an old saying goes, “A tree does not eat its fruits.” It means that all beings, including humans, exist to give ourselves, not to enclose ourselves.
Saint Paul recalled these words: “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.” Our life would change if we could understand that – like the tree – we are not made to eat our own fruits but to donate them as food to others. Just as fruits rot if no one picks them up, in the same way our gifts turn out to be infertile if we do not put them at the service of others.

The ability to share is not tied to the abundance of resources, but to the generosity of the heart. The generous person, even when going through periods of scarcity, finds within oneself the source of joy because – as Jesus revealed to us – “there is more joy in giving than in receiving.”

 

Video available on Youtube: “A tree does not eat its fruits.”