You don't own your wealth. Your wealth owns you
Reflection on today's Mass readings by St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-1591)
Friday of the
Eleventh week in Ordinary Time Friday, 21 June 2013
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth...
store up treasures in heaven"
Saint Ambrose
2 Cor. 11:18.21b-30.
Brothers and sisters: since many boast according to the
flesh, I too will boast. To my shame I say that we were too weak! But what
anyone dares to boast of (I am speaking in foolishness) I also dare.
Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are
they descendants of Abraham? So am I.
Are they ministers of Christ? (I am talking like an insane person.) I am still more, with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, far worse beatings, and numerous brushes with death. Five times at the hands of the Jews I received forty lashes minus one.
Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and thirst, through frequent fastings, through cold and exposure.
And apart from these things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches.
Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led to sin, and I am not indignant?
If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
I will bless the LORD at all times;
His praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the LORD;
The lowly will hear me and be glad.
Glorify the LORD with me,
Let us together extol his name. I sought the LORD, and he answered me
And delivered me from all my fears.
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.
Matt 6:19-23.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where
moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures
in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and
steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.
The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your
whole body will be filled with light; but 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.
Commentary of the day
:
Saint Ambrose
(c.340-397), Bishop of Milan and Doctor of the Church
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth... store up treasures in heaven"
You are a jailor of your wealth, not its owner, you who bury
your gold in the ground (cf Matt 25:25); you are its slave and not its master.
Christ said: “Where your treasure is there also your heart will be” so it is
your heart you have buried. Rather, sell your gold and buy salvation; sell what
is metal and acquire God's Kingdom; sell the field and purchase for yourself
eternal life.
In saying this I am speaking the truth because I am relying
on the words of Him who is Truth: “If you wish to be perfect, sell what you
have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matt 19:21).
Don't be cast down by these words lest the same thing be
said to you as to the rich young man: “It will be hard for one who is rich to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (v.23). Still more, when you read this sentence,
consider that death can snatch these possessions away from you, that the
aggression of someone powerful can carry them away. At the end of the day you
will have seen no further than insignificant goods in place of great wealth;
these are no more than a treasure of coins rather than treasures of grace. By
their very nature they perish rather than remaining for ever.
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