Lent E-Retreat

Treasures in Heaven

 ¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

We all, to a certain extent, store up treasures for ourselves on earth, don’t we?  Gina and

I contribute regularly to a retirement account, and we both participate in a pension plan.  We encourage our children to save their money, and we hope, if possible, when we die, to leave an estate that will both support loved ones and the causes and organizations we believe in.  Hopefully, as we make such plans we remember our parish- but I digress!

So in urging us to not store up treasures on earth, what is Jesus getting at?  It would seem to me that the word ‘treasure’ might have something to do with it.  What we treasure is what we hold dear, value, believe in, look to for comfort, sacrifice for, and ultimately give ourselves to…  and Jesus is telling us that if what we treasure is ‘stuff’ , we are headed for trouble! 

So take some time today, or in the next couple of days, and do this simple exercise: on a sheet of paper or in your journal, write an answer to this question:

v  Who or what do I treasure and how the facts of my life show that this is what I treasure

Take some time and prayerfully reflect on this question.  Then, reflect on this question:

v  If someone who didn’t know me could observe me for 48 hours, what would they say that I treasure?

Jesus tells is that where our treasure is, there will be our heart.  What do you treasure? Where is your heart?

Lent E Retreat

“By contrition we are made clean; by compassion, ready; and by a genuine longing for God, worthy.  It is by means of these three that souls can attain heaven, as I understand it.  By these medicines it is necessary for every soul to be healed.  Though healed, the soul’s wounds are still seen by God, not as wounds, but as honorable scars.”

Julian of Norwich, Fourteenth Century mystic

Lent is a time when the Christian community is invited to focus on our need to, as Julian puts it, be “made clean”.  This has a different meaning for all of us. 

v  Addicts in recovery talk about the time they’ve been drug-free as the time they’ve been “clean”.

v  In the 51^st Psalm, the author asks God, “make me clean” as he reflects on his own sin and need for forgiveness.

v  A friend of mine who is a psychologist talks about a healthy interaction between people as being “clean”.

J

ulian talks about being made clean by God through contrition – an acknowledgment, in humility, of our need for forgiveness.   Fundamental to contrition is humility, which is really a seeking for right relationship with God, neighbor and the presence of God within.  Flowing from this gift comes compassion and a desire or longing for God.

Perhaps today would be a good day to read Psalm 51, along with the words from Julian noted above.  Then, we might ask ourselves these questions:

v  Where do I feel called to express contrition in my life? 

v  Who in my life stands out as an example of someone who has the virtue of humility? Where and how do I see humility in my own life?

v  Am I compassionate?  Where is God calling me to exercise compassion at this time in my life?

v  What does it mean to me to “long for God”?  How do I experience that longing?  What, if anything, can get in the way of that longing?