Hey, Church fans! Had a great time last week flying a couple of kids around to see the local glaciers. This week, we hear Jesus say, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” What’s he getting at? Check it out.
Yesterday, I had had breakfast with a friend at a local iconic establishment.
We both ordered bacon and eggs.
As our food arrived, he looked at me and said, “You know, that’s the difference between being involved and being committed.
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“Well,” he said, “Look at your breakfast.”
“Yeah,” I said, “Bacon and eggs.”
“Yep, bacon and eggs,” he said. “Think about it. The chicken is involved…the pig is committed!”
He’s right, you know.
It raises a good question for each of us in light of Jesus’ words in the gospel today.
When it comes to being a disciple of Jesus in St. Patrick’s
Are you involved
Or are you committed?
One thing I like about St. Patrick’s is that we never do anything halfway.
We go all in. We sing every verse and we don’t leave Mass early, even when the donuts are right outside the door!
We do this for a reason. First know hat one should never be in a hurry to leave the House of God.
Second, we remember with sadness that Judas was the first one to leave Mass early…
We are here to praise God, to share our stories, to share communion and fellowship with God and one another, and to be sent back into the world to proclaim the Good News of the Resurrection and the forgiveness of sins.
But at certain point each one of us has to decided, “I am merely involved, or am I committed?”
How you answer that question will make all the difference.
This is what Jesus is getting at when he says, “Where your treasure is, there also will be your heart.”
If our “treasure”, i.e., that which is most valuable to us is our relationship with God and others, those relationships will take priority over everything else. That is when we become committed. That’s when we organize our time and our resources to building up those relationships.
I’ve said it before, “Show me your calendar and your bank statement and I will tell you what your priorities are.”
But such a commitment isn’t easy and it doesn’t come overnight. Such stewardship of our time and resources takes time, practice, vigilance.
There are lots of things that compete for our attention. Very few of these are bad in and of themselves. Indeed, if I was the evil one, I would fill your life with so many good things that you would not have time for the essential relationships that give life joy and meaning.
It we are not careful our lives can become like our garages, filled with so much cool stuff that we can no longer use it for the reason it was built.
We need to pay attention. We need to be vigilant. We need to be like “servants who await our master’s return.” We need to examine our priorities every day to make sure we are focused on who and what really matters.
As individuals and as a parish family, we have all been given so much. Thus, much will be demanded of us. At the end of the age, when we stand together as a parish before the Lord, he will ask us what we did to build up the Kingdom here in 99504.
Now is a good time to examine where our heart is. Now is a good time to look at our calendar and our bank statement. Is our relationship with Christ, with our parish family, with the Church our first priority? If not, where do we need to make adjustments? There is no guarantee of tomorrow. The Master could return at any moment. Now is the time to decide if we are involved or committed.