Treasures that matter to God

Sisters and brothers in Christ, in today's Gospel parable, Jesus reminds us not to put too much stock in the treasures of this work while neglecting what matters most to God, saying: "will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God." How can we be "rich in what matters to God"? As I reflected on this, I started to think about what Fr. Bruce Nieli talked about during the annual Deacon Retreat this past week. He talked about the ingredients that make up the "pizza supreme" and, for me, these are the ingredients that we need to be "rich in what matters to God." These ingredients are unity, Truth, goodness, and beauty. Looking at these a different way, these are the Four Marks of the Catholic Church - one (unity), holy (goodness), catholic (beauty), and apostolic (Truth).

In addition to the Four Marks, the virtues of faith, hope, and love help us to be "rich in what matters to God." Saint Paul sums up our Christian faith, our reason for hope, and God's love for us so beautiful in his Letter to the Ephesians, in particular these verses:

But God, who is rich in mercy,

because of the great love he had for us,

even when we were dead in our transgressions,

brought us to life with Christ (by grace you have been saved),

raised us up with him,

and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus,

that in the ages to come

he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace

in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Therefore, let us store up "heavenly treasures" that do not decay with time and set our sights on eternal life with our Father in heaven.

. . .

Gospel of the Day

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,

“Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me.”

He replied to him,

“Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?”

Then he said to the crowd,

“Take care to guard against all greed,

for though one may be rich,

one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Then he told them a parable.

“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.

He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,

for I do not have space to store my harvest?’

And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:

I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.

There I shall store all my grain and other goods

and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,

you have so many good things stored up for many years,

rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’

But God said to him,

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;

and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’

Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself

but is not rich in what matters to God.”