Daily Readings Reflection for 6/17/11

Scripture: Lectionary # 369. II Cor. 18:21-30. Psalm 34:2-3.4-5.6-7.
Matthew 6:19-23

"Where your treasure is, there is your heart." What a delightful insight
Jesus gives to us with his words that are always life-giving and mind
boggling. Here we have a saying that is perennial and touches each one of
us at our depths. The saying helps us in our prayer life, in our
relationships, and in our self-knowledge. It is one of those wisdom maxims
coming from the Word of God, Jesus, that enters our inmost being symbolized
by the heart. We are made happy when we understand it in the context in
which Jesus is speaking. It is about what we do, think, feel, and embrace
in love. Certainly, it speaks of our setting of priorities in the realm of
the soul but also in the realm of everyday living. It has to be seen in
the total context of Jesus' great Sermon on the Mount.

It is ultimately best to treasure in our hearts the things that go beyond
what we experience in the here and now, though it starts here and has to be
part of our intentional way of living out our commitments to God, to
others, to ourselves. We do not lay up treasures where time wears them
away or moths put holes in the fabric of our lives. Sometimes our earthly
treasures are lost by sophisticated and professional minds who steal away
what we have saved for our future days here. Jesus reminds us to think
beyond this by going deep into our hearts and pondering over what the words
of life mean for us in the here and now.

Prayer is part of this maxim about the treasures of our heart. Jesus
taught us how to pray in yesterday's sermon on the mount, today he tells us
how to develop that prayer. Another of his saintly servants says it this
way: "The essential is the interior." (Blessed William Joseph Chaminade,
founder of the Marianists). We realize that the saying is speaking about
bringing about the kingdom of God, not our own kingdoms!

Heart means the center of our life and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
there. They are the treasure within each of us who have been baptized and
have accepted the commitment to a life of generosity and love for one
another. Koinonia is the community form of this treasure of the
heart--fellowship, sharing, hosptitality. Prayer however is the dynamic
power that helps us to go deeply into the mystery of God's love and find
the treasure hidden in the field of our flesh. One of the great mystic
scientists and philosophers captured this treasure by telling us: "Le Coeur
a ses raisons, que la raison ne connait point." (Blaise Pascal). Yes, the
heart has its reasons that reason does not know.

These teasures consist of "...things who fruit one enjoys in this world,
while the capital is laid up for one in the world to come: honoring father
and mother, deeds of loving kindness, making peace between a man and his
fellow and the study of the law that leads to them all." (Cf. Sirach 20:30
and 41:14; Luke 12:33-34). Amen.