Where Is Our Treasure?

Today’s gospel challenges us to consider one central question, what (or where) is our treasure? For the rich man in the parable the answer is obvious. His treasure is the stability provided by a bounteous harvest. He even builds a storehouse for this treasure (new and larger barns), and once it is safely tucked away tells himself, “Now as for you, / you have so many good things stored up for many years, / rest, eat, drink, be merry!” The stability he thinks he has found is an illusion, however, because life is fragile and uncertain.

It is natural for human beings to seek stability and control. We want to know that we have enough to provide for our needs and the needs of our families. But at what point do we begin to place all of our faith and hope in material goods, instead of in God, the only true constant in life? And when can we truly say, enough is enough? Greed is a sickness of the spirit that constantly goads us to acquire more and more. The things we seek will never fill the deepest longings of our hearts, and, as long as wealth or power, fame, or beauty is our aim, we will never be satisfied.
 

Adapted from Prayer Time C Renew International

Jesus offers us another way. A few verses after this gospel reading he tells the disciples to focus on the “inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (12:33-34; NABRE).

Where do you store your treasure? Where do you keep your heart?