Reading and meditation on the Word of God, Friday of the 11th week in ordinary time
18 June 2021
Reading is delivered by Inke Oktavelia and meditation delivered by Suzanna Marie Gerodias, from the Saint John Bosco Church in Jakarta, Indonesia
The reading is taken from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples:
“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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
The theme for our meditation today is: Heart’s Direction. Miracles that happen in our lives can not be separated from our prayers. We benefit goodness and comfort to our bodies and souls because we have intended to pray for them. Through prayers and relationship with God, we truly enjoy the direction or orientation of our hearts to God. A prayer made without being directed from the heart, mind, and love of God will surely be a misguided or empty prayer.
A prayer needs time, place and situation that constitute its support system. However, the way or the direction of heart is a fundamental element that signify the quality of our prayer. A direction of heart can go anywhere following each one’s desire. We commonly know that our attention easily leads our hearts to the wealth of the world. For example, there is a young man so obsessed with the European Soccer Cup that is going on this month of June. When he was attending the holy Mass last Sunday, all his attention went to the play of his favorite team which he so expected to win. The Holy Mass was actually meaningless to him at that time.
This is truly an example of the direction of the heart to God. Our heart can easily change its direction to events and pleasures of this world. Today, the Word of God reminds us that the wealth and things of the world often become the serious threats to the peace of our minds and hearts. We will be easily carried away and consumed by the desire to continue seeking, obtaining and having them. Many of us think that once we have those wealth, we will be in peace and happiness.
Jesus always says that this way of life is foolishness and enslavement. Actually, we need possessions, money, and various interests of this world, but they should not block our heart’s direction to God. All our possessions in the world will not accompany us after our death. Whereas, the heavenly richness must attract all our attention and direction. In today’s proclamation of the Word, God wants to open our hearts, minds and wills to acquire as many as possible the heavenly treasures.
Our heavenly treasures cannot be put in a bank like money and other treasures of the world. Anything can happen to the bank and those treasures would be lost. However, the heavenly treasures such as spiritual life, relationship with God, heavenly wisdom, spirit of service and love that belong to the Kingdom of God, will not be lost. They are the treasures that will accompany us after our death. If you were asked: where is your treasure? Or where is the direction of your heart? As a follower of Christ, your answer should be this one: the heavenly treasures. Saint Paul gives us an example about his own faith experience. He indeed made the Lord Jesus and His Gospel as his only choice of his heart and the most expensive treasure in his life. He was actually suffered, persecuted and condemned to death for only one reason, namely because of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.
Let’s pray. In the name of the Father… Almighty God, may our hearts always turn to You and finally rest in You forever and ever. Hail Mary full of grace… In the name of the Father…