June 18, 2021 – Friday 11^th Week in Ordinary Time

Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061821.cfm)

Where do you find yourself during the day? What keeps you occupied and busy? What are your major thoughts and concerns? And how do you end your day?

These questions would somehow help us see the kind of life we are living at this very moment. We may find ourselves in front of our computer or smartphones because of our online job or online class. Others would find themselves wandering somewhere else or confined in a quarantine facility or at the hospital at this moment. Others also may find themselves alone and suffering.

The demands of our work and career, or demands for school assignments and projects, demands in our relationship especially from our family could occupy us a lot. Meeting the deadline, doing all our responsibilities and on how we would manage well our time, presence and resources could also become our major concern. At the end of the day, we may find ourselves exhausted, stressed, empty and alone.

To be grounded at all times is needed for our physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. This calls us to be constantly aware of our needs and of the needs around us in order to assess our priorities and to give more attention to what are most important and valuable to us. This is something important because when we are bombarded with many concerns and issues whether from our work, from our relationships or personal struggles of insecurities, anxieties and fears, then, we could easily be swayed and become lost.

Our readings today reminds us to find our heart by also finding our true treasure. We are obviously not talking about the heart as a human organ but the heart as the center of our very being. This is where we find our deepest thoughts, our deepest dreams, our true treasure and the very space of encounter with God. Where do I find my heart now? We may ask ourselves.

In Paul’s letter today to the Corinthians, he recounted to us his many experiences as a missionary and preacher of the Gospel. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, persecuted, and experienced dangers in his travels and all for the love of God. The Gospel and in sharing this Gospel to peoples and cultures made Paul busy and occupied. His ministry to preach the Gospel and to found churches consumed his energy physically, mentally and spiritually.

However, despite all the trials, he was never lost and never felt alone even though he was suffering a lot. Paul did these without any complain neither grumbles nor bitterness. Joy in sharing and giving witness to the Gospel moved Paul to do those sacrifices. In fact, this joy came from Jesus himself, the true joy of Paul, and his lasting and true treasure in heaven. This is where Paul also found his heart, his very being, touched and loved by the Lord.

Indeed, the relationship of Paul with the Lord and with the people to whom he was sent sustained him and his ministry. Paul would always see the day as something new and filled with hope, that is why he was able to continue in his ministry with joy and perseverance.

This is the invitation that we have heard also today from the Gospel. 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.” Jesus invites us to be more conscious of things that will last. Jesus was not talking about material possessions, neither human desires for recognition and power nor human cravings for self-gratification.

Jesus invites us to give more importance to our relationships, particularly, to be daring in building intimate and deeper relationships with God, with our families and our community by giving what we have – our time and our presence.

Thus, each of us will surely be making sacrifices, we may never forget then, that all our effort, energy and presence spent to every sacrifice that we make whether at work, at school, and with our relationships – are all intended towards storing up treasures in heaven where we shall also find our heart. Hinaut pa.