By Fr Trevor D’Souza, OFM
Where your treasure is your heart will be also. (Mt 6:19-21)
Abu-ben-Adam was a favorite poem of mine during my school days. Abu was a man who had great faith in God and was also involved with the lives of people, especially the poor. One night, while he was in a deep sleep, he was awoken with a bright light in his room. On waking up he saw an angel with a book and pen in his hands.
On enquiry, he told Abu that he was the angel sent by God to record the names of people in the book of life, he found worthy. The angel asked Abu if he loved God. Abu said yes. What are the kind of religious practices that you do in order to prove your love for God? the angel asked. Abu did not have much to say about this, except the normal routine practices. But he also added, that he was very caring toward the old man who stayed by his house, nursing and feeding him in his old age. He was kind toward others who needed his help and so on. The angel left him, and Abu thought to himself that he had missed the opportunity to find his name in the book of life.
After a few days, once again Abu was awoken from his deep sleep, the angel standing there once again. This time the angel showed Abu the book of life and told him, that God had found him worthy to place his name at the top of the list. Then the angel explained, that he was found worthy because he practiced the first commandment, namely to love God with all his heart, soul, mind and spirit and he showed this love in loving his neighbors, especially the poor.
Do not store up treasures on earth
– moths will eat
– rust will consume
– robbers will steal
We all know the art of storing treasures on earth. We are also well aware of what can happen to our earthly treasures in times of floods, earthquakes, fires, moths, rust, robbers, etc.
Store up treasures in heaven
– moths cannot eat
– rust cannot consume
– robbers cannot steal
How does one store up treasure in heaven? By practicing the commandments of love, love God with all my heart, soul, spirit and mind. Let this love for God be expressed concretely in loving our neighbour, especially the poor.
There is no other way.
Going daily for church, saying my daily prayers, participating in all the religious rituals, going for pilgrimages, etc., are only some of the ways in which I express my love for God.
Building magnificent places of worship, wearing costly ornamented clothes for worship, using gold and silver vessels for performing rituals and worship are ways of storing up treasure on this earth. One day it is going to rust, eaten up, robbed, reduced to rubble and ashes. It is definitely not a sign of my love for God.
Loving my neighbor, especially the poor, is the only and sure way to prove that I love my God ! If anyone says that he loves God, whom he cannot see, but hates his brother, whom he can see, then he is a liar (1Jn 4:20).