August 11, 2019

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

“What is Your Treasure?”

Msgr. Thomas Gervasio

While preparing my homily, I came upon the following prayer: “Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff—and nudge me when I’ve said enough.” Of course, I was quick to pass it on to Fr. Jean! Actually it is a good prayer for any homilist.
 
One day during my seminary years, a fire alarm sounded and we had to evacuate the building—we were convinced it was not a false alarm. We exited the building in a calm and orderly fashion and gathered on the field in front of the seminary. During it all, I noticed that many of my fellow seminarians carried out various things. A few had their cassocks, one dragged out a TV, our musicians carried their guitars, a classmate from the Camden Diocese clutched his saxophone. (He was a Philadelphia Mummer!) Interestingly, not one carried a theology book! Each carried a treasure, something important to them, something with which they could not part. They were willing to give up other things but not their treasure.
 
What is your treasure? A helpful way to find out is to take a look at your “Book of Values”—your checkbook and your credit card statements. They often reflect what we value, what we delight in. Jesus says, “For where your treasure is there also will your heart be.”
 
In Scripture we will not find a condemnation of wealth or possessions but we do find many warnings about the danger they pose to our spiritual life and our salvation. They summon us to understand the difference between the fleeting treasures of earth and the enduring treasure of heaven.
 
Today’s Gospel reminds us that at the coming of the Lord, the Master, there will be reckoning, a judgement not only at the end of time but at the moment of our death. And so the Lord urges us to be prepared, vigilant, ready to face that moment of judgment.
 
When it comes, we shall be judged not on the amount of our wealth or the number of our possessions. Those treasures will have vanished. We shall be judged on whether or not we had Christ as our treasure; on whether we met Him in the faces of the suffering, the lonely, the sick, the hungry and the homeless. “Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.” What is your treasure? Where does my heart tend to go?
 

Ah, somehow I feel a nudge!