FRIDAY of 11th WEEK, uneven numbered year
“Do not store treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and woodworm destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them them and thieves cannot break in and steal.”
What are my treasures? Are they on earth or in heaven? We are still on earth with a need to survive, to have a certain standard of living and well-being. This only fair and legitimate. Human life needs a house, accommodation, work, transport. Christians always have a respect for what brings them a decent place to live and work in. For God can never wish for his children to live in misery. These true values remain forever. It is indeed a good thing to have good health in order to serve the Lord! A good reputation to serve the Lord with is surely an advantage. To have many friends, to build up community and to serve the Lord is no doubt an advantage.Having a good knowledge of he Word is again a treasure for heaven. However a possibility of lies can make its way in, for I can attach myself to the goods of God more than to God Himself. Saint John of the Cross would say : “The goods of the earth are the way of a perverted mind; the goods of heaven are the path of a wayward mind : Nada, he says, is what we need : nothing!”For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.“When Jesus tells us that we mustn’t make treasures in heaven, he keenly wants to remind us of our attachments to the material world and to human glory. No form of life on earth lasts forever.We came into this life, we have to think one day of our leaving it. Let us make the most of this time of grace to seek true values of this given life, for example, friendship, charity, love, respect…In my opinion, it is not worth drawing up a list of these values.The important thing is to live, to discover with other people true values. The Lord Jesus tells us that there is just one commandment in life :” Love one another as God has loved you."Are we
ready to share everything we possess with those who are stripped of everything? He proposes that we become aware of our treasure.“Tell me who you spend time with and I’ll tell you who you are” goes the popular saying.Jesus goes further when he says “Blessed are the poor; Blessed are those who have nothing. Blessed are the pure in heart, you whose gaze is always fixed on the Heavenly Father. Mind when people say all sorts of good about you, that is how they treated false prophets. Blessed are you when you are insulted, when you are spoken badly because of me, truly, be joyful!” Jesus proposes to make Heavenly Love our treasure! Each day the Word advises us and we pay great attention to it. It shows us the path to conversion.
“The lamp of the body is the eye.It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light.but if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be in darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness there will be!”
Every evening, try to go over our day, think about the faces we have encountered. The events that took place, then commend all that to the merciful Love of God. Then as we wake up, let us ask the Lord to turn our hearts towards life and the needs of our neighbour. Jesus is our treasure, the way to the Father.If we walk in the Light of Christ we surrender ourselves to the Father’s will.And so our eye becomes limpid for we shall have nothing to lose.If I must glorify you it will be by my weaknesses! Fatigue.Prison. Knocks. Danger of death, stoning, this is what glorifies me, says the Apostle.If we become familiar with dangers coming from all around, we are with all rejected people, all those who suffer, all those who are abandoned in the world. This is where the Heart of Our Father lies, and we are overflowing with joy with Christ who holds us, we let ourselves be seized by Him.