Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
Many of us find ourselves storing up treasures on earth almost as a matter of course without ever really consciously deciding to do so. It is as though the world around us whispers, 'accumulate and acquire', perhaps with an implicit 'or else' whispered as well. And when we look around us it seems so entirely normal to pursue this life in which our primary goal is to ensure that we have the resources to provide for pleasures and to avoid, not only pain, but inconvenience and discomfort. Isn't this what we are taught? We must go to good schools to get well paying jobs so that we can own fast cars and large houses. Our vacation photos must compete on Instagram after all. How is anyone else to even regard us as having had a summer vacation if there aren't pictures of our yacht? Clearly these are exaggerations that we don't really believe. But we do tend to imbibe something of the same sentiment at a lower level. We indulge because we forget there is anything else to do instead.
Worldly treasures are fickle. Even we when get exactly what we want in the world it often fails to satisfy us. And that is to say nothing of all the times we want and are unable to obtain or when we don't want but are forced to endure. Jesus calls us to invest instead in a treasure that is subject to none of these vicissitudes.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
The point of Jesus is not that we may not have worldly possessions, but rather that we should not let them possess us. Treasure on earth is a terrible master for the human heart. But again, do we even know how to seek something other than this treasure? We are invited to see Jesus himself as our treasure, our true inheritance. When we recognize him as such we begin to understand how to take the appropriate steps to invest more deeply, steps such as those about which we recently read: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
"The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot" (see Psalm 16:5).
"The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints" (see Ephesians 1:18).
When we invest in Jesus we discover bread that does not leave us hungry and living water that does not leave us thirsty. Our hearts grow strong, finally feeding on that which was meant to sustain them all along. As a consequence we begin to see the world differently. Our eyes become like lamps helping us to recognize and cooperate with God's work in the world. When we invest in anything other than Jesus we invariably succumb to darkness of the eye because we stop looking outward and focus on satisfying our desires with the things of this world. How great indeed is such darkness.
If we have succumbed to an doomed investment strategy focused on worldly gain we are called to let Jesus open our eyes to where true treasure may be found. We are called to recognize all of the ways in which even the satisfaction of our worldly desires has failed to live up the promises it seems to make in our imaginations. Seeing this deceit can help us set our hearts instead on that which is true. Then everything else can be seen and used from the proper perspective, ordered to the proper end.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth (see Colossians 3:2).
It was only because Paul and the other Apostles knew where true treasure was found that the Church was able to survive all of the trials of her early years. It is in part because the Church has become comfortable and accommodated to this world that she no longer sparks the same wonder in those around her. We do however see brief pulses of light when people again remember the true treasure the Church possesses. The renewal that Saint Francis brought to the Church was just one such example. But such revivals are by no means consigned only to the past. We can participate in one here and now. The treasures available to us are too many to enumerate: the Holy Spirit and his gifts and fruits, the Eucharist and the other sacraments, the Holy Scriptures, a relationship with the Mother of God, the Saints, and much more. We don't have to go far to find this heavenly treasure. May it be this that fills our hearts.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the LORD heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
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