Treasure in Heaven

Today's Reflections 

      

Treasure in Heaven

Mt 6:19-23

[Jesus said to his disciples,] ¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.

²²“The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; ²³but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be in darkness. And if the light in you is darkness, how great will the darkness be.”

TREASURES IN HEAVEN. As defined by Jesus, our “treasure” is where our heart is. This treasure can be a person, an animal, or a thing. It is not unusual for a person to call the beloved “my treasure” or “my dear.” From the Spaniards we have the expression “mi querida,” and from the Italians, “mio tesoro.” In the movie Lord of the Rings, Gollum is driven mad by the ring he calls “my precious.”

Jesus warns us to be wise and discerning on where to place our heart. If we store up treasures on earth, we will eventually lose them because they are perishable: they can be corrupted, destroyed, or stolen; at death we will leave them all behind. We are wiser storing up heavenly treasures—“earthly realities” that have bearings on the reign of God and our relationship with God. These alone truly last; these alone ultimately matter.

A young priest consults with an elderly priest because people lavish praises on him, admiring his gift of eloquence in preaching. The older priest, wise in experience, counsels him to be careful of human praise. If this is the principal reason that keeps him in the priesthood, he will find himself in crisis sooner than he realizes.

“He is rich who is satisfied with what he has,”

goes a proverb.

What do you consider your treasures

at this stage of your life?