June 22, 2018 Friday
11th Week in Ordinary Time1st Reading: 2 Kgs 11:1-4.9-18.20
Gospel: Matthew 6:19-23
Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not store up treasure for yourself here on earth where moth and rust destroy it, and where thieves can steal it. Store up treasure for yourself with God, where no moth or rust can destroy nor thief come and steal it.“For where your treasure is, there also your heart will be.“The lamp of the body is the eye; if your eyes are sound, your whole body will be in the light. If your eyes are diseased your whole body will be in darkness. Then, if your light has become darkness, how dark will be the darkest part of you!”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in
the Assimilated Life
Experience)
Jesus’ call against storing up earthly treasures has logical basis in the incompatibility of material abundance with heavenly inheritance. The incompatibility is both at the practical and transcendental levels. On the practical level it is hard to please two masters. Were one to keep two masters he’d end up spreading his service too thin to the two masters’ dissatisfaction. That person would be wishing he had two hearts. “Sana dalawa ang puso ko”.
On the transcendental level it deprives God of the totality of our love. The devil sees in the person’s love for wealth as an open invitation to control that person’s heart. Those who are preoccupied with earthly treasures will have more temptations. Jesus raised this issue when he said “It is easier for a camel to pass through a camel’s eye than to enter the kingdom of God.”
But earthly treasures are not evil in themselves. Jesus, in fact, assigned an apostle to take care of the meager income of their group. He also befriended a very wealthy man named Joseph of Arimathea. It was this rich man who provided for his burial cave at Calvary. Material treasures become destructive to the spirit only when a person amasses them for his own enjoyment. That is why Jesus’ warning is qualified by “for yourself”. “Do not store up treasure for yourself…” (Matt. 6:19).
Material abundance is incompatible with heavenly inheritance when it is ourselves we seek to pamper without concern for the neighbor who needs a lot of care. The needy deserve some share of the fruits of our labor because we are our “brothers’ keeper”. The best justification for amassing wealth is to have more resources to share. Those who share with the poor won’t be singing “Sana dalawa ang puso ko” because it is Christ they serve in the poor. If we must amass wealth, the motive must be to have more in order to accommodate more poor people in our lives. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M.
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