First reading 2 Corinthians 11:18,21-30
If I am to boast, let me boast of my own feebleness
So many others have been boasting of their worldly achievements, that I will boast myself. But if anyone wants some brazen speaking – I am still talking as a fool – then I can be as brazen as any of them, and about the same things. Hebrews, are they? So am I. Israelites? So am I. Descendants of Abraham? So am I. The servants of Christ? I must be mad to say this, but so am I, and more than they: more, because I have worked harder, I have been sent to prison more often, and whipped many times more, often almost to death. Five times I had the thirty-nine lashes from the Jews; three times I have been beaten with sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked and once adrift in the open sea for a night and a day. Constantly travelling, I have been in danger from rivers and in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger from pagans; in danger in the towns, in danger in the open country, danger at sea and danger from so-called brothers. I have worked and laboured, often without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty and often starving; I have been in the cold without clothes. And, to leave out much more, there is my daily preoccupation: my anxiety for all the churches. When any man has had scruples, I have had scruples with him; when any man is made to fall, I am tortured.
If I am to boast, then let me boast of my own feebleness.
Responsorial Psalm 33(34):2-7
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
The humble shall hear and be glad.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Glorify the Lord with me.
Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
from all my terrors he set me free.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Look towards him and be radiant;
let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
and rescued him from all his distress.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Gospel Matthew 6:19-23
Store up treasure for yourselves in heaven
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be!’
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It is not in the doing, but being
“…store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworm destroys them and thieves cannot break in and steal” (The Gospel). What does it mean to “store up treasures for yourselves in heaven”? Often, we might be tempted to interpret these words as Jesus’ call to accumulate good works in order to earn points for entry into heaven. However, that is not what Jesus means at all. Instead, He is asking us to store up treasures by embracing and living out His gospel values of love, forgiveness, peace and justice, so that we can become true reflections of God.
“The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light…”. We need the light of faith to grasp the real meaning of our lives. It is not about accumulating money, popularity, power and material possessions, but it is about growing into who we were created to be: becoming more like Christ.
Reflective questions:
What word or phrase strikes me in this time of prayer? Why?
Acknowledgment: Reflections are based on “Prayer for Living: The Word of God for Daily Prayer Year C” by Sr Maria Jose FMVD.
