Homily for Friday, 20 June 2014– Ferial

Friday of the 11th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: 2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20; Psalm 132:11, 12, 13-14, 17-18; Matthew 6:19-23

Where do we store up our treasure?

Jesus says to his disciples in our Gospel reading today from Matthew: “Store up treasures” not on earth but “in heaven… For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”

I think, then, that the question of where we “store up treasures” in the sense that Jesus intends; whether we “store up treasures” on earth or in heaven, is a question of priorities. This question is related to other questions we might ask ourselves: Where are our hearts? Have we not heard it said about someone: Her or his heart is or is not “in it”? Are our hearts “in it,” referring to our faith; our relationship with God? I anticipate that, for many of us, we could honestly answer “yes” to this question.

Serving here at St. Kateri Parish, I consistently see a parish community that is generous; devoted; faithful. Last night here at St. Margaret Mary Church, we gathered for our first night of the Sacred Heart Novena. The congregation was much larger than I expected for our reflection on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. And there are many other ways, often silent and unassuming, in which we at St. Kateri show our generosity; our devotion; our faithfulness both within and beyond our parish community. Our hearts are in the right place; our hearts are “in it”; our hearts find their home not primarily on earth but with God in heaven. This is what Jesus asks of us, his disciples.

Jesus asks: Where do we store up our treasure? Where are our hearts? Who is our first love? We are doing well if our treasure; our hearts are in heaven and if our first love is God and if, through God, we draw strength for our mission to serve one another, especially those most in need.

Fr. Pedro Arrupe, Superior General of the Jesuits from 1965 to 1983, once asked these same questions that Jesus asks of us in a poem that I would like to share this morning. Where do we store up our treasure? Where are our hearts? Who is our first love? Let us meditate on these words of Fr. Arrupe:

Nothing is more practical than

finding God, that is, than

falling in love

in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with,

what seizes your imagination,

will affect everything.

It will decide

what will get you out of bed

in the morning,

what you do with your evenings,

how you spend your weekends,

what you read,

who you know,

what breaks your heart,

and what amazes you with

joy and gratitude.

Fall in love,

stay in love,

and it will decide everything.