There is nothing we can take with us when we die. However, as Christians we believe in the resurrection — we will be raised from the dead, still be ourselves, and take our relationships with us. As Thomas Aquinas reminds us, there will still be friends in heaven.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 6:19-23
19 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. 20 But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. 22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light; 23 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.”
Reflection
There was this story of a man who loved his money and never for a moment wanted to part with any of it. Nearing death, he made his wife promise one thing: that she would place all his money in his coffin and bury it with him. He thought that it was best for him, as one successful self-made and wealthy man, to keep his hard-earned wealth close to his heart till the very end.
Now his wife was a loving and honest woman who would never even think of doing other than what his beloved husband asked her to do. Her husband’s will was her command, and there was simply no way she could ever refuse the dying wish of someone she loved, served, and obeyed all her life.
So she counted all her husband’s money to the last centavo and dutifully arranged for all that sum to go with him to the grave. So after getting the total, she carefully wrote a check in her husband’s favor, exactly equal to the amount she had carefully counted, and placed the check inside his coffin.
The man might have his treasure right next and very close to his heart, but his wife sure had her heart in the right place. He got the exact amount close to his heart, for where one’s treasure is, there is his heart, too.
The heart stood for the core of the person, the seat of the personality of the person. A person focused on his treasure is taken up heart and soul by his material treasure. All of him is closely connected with that treasure, and never would the core of the person want his heart to be misplaced or waylaid by any other extraneous concern.
He got what his heart hankered for more than anything else. His wife who had her heart in the right place gave what was due to him, but got much more than she ever gave. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
WHAT’S IN YOUR HEART?
There was this story of a man who loved his money and never for a moment wanted to part with any of it. Nearing death, he made his wife promise one thing: that she would place all his money in his coffin and bury it with him. He thought that it was best for him, as one successful self-made and wealthy man, to keep his hard-earned wealth close to his heart till the very end.
Now his wife was a loving and honest woman who would never even think of doing other than what his beloved husband asked her to do. Her husband’s will was her command, and there was simply no way she could ever refuse the dying wish of someone she loved, served, and obeyed all her life.
So she counted all her husband’s money to the last centavo and dutifully arranged for all that sum to go with him to the grave. So after getting the total, she carefully wrote a check in her husband’s favor, exactly equal to the amount she had carefully counted, and placed the check inside his coffin.
The man might have his treasure right next and very close to his heart, but his wife sure had her heart in the right place. He got the exact amount close to his heart, for where one’s treasure is, there is his heart, too.
The heart stood for the core of the person, the seat of the personality of the person. A person focused on his treasure is taken up heart and soul by his material treasure. All of him is closely connected with that treasure, and never would the core of the person want his heart to be misplaced or waylaid by any other extraneous concern.
He got what his heart hankered for more than anything else. His wife who had her heart in the right place gave what was due to him, but got much more than she ever gave. Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB
------- REFLECTION QUESTION -------
What do you insist on keeping close to your heart?
Dearest God, temper my desire for worldy wealth. Help me focus my eyes on the eternal. Amen.
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