Bank with eternity, not with earth

THAT’S practically what can come to our mind when we consider Christ’s words to his disciples: “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and moth consume, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither the rust nor moth consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.” (Mt 6,19-20) 

 It’s like saying that we should invest in what would last for eternity, where God keeps it. This can only mean that we should put our heart into things with eternal value, prioritizing eternal rewards over earthly gain. 

 I suppose what all this means is that we should take care of our heart, of what is truly inside our heart, for what we keep there will determine what we will be in the end. It’s a matter of ordering our desires and intentions toward what cannot perish, and that can only be God. 

 We need to see to it that even as we immerse ourselves as deeply as possible in our earthly affairs, we do not lose our sense of heaven and eternity. In fact, the ideal is that as we go deeper in our temporal affairs, our sense of heaven and eternity should also become sharper. 

 This is always possible and doable as long as we are guided first of all by our faith rather than by our feelings and by our merely human estimation of things. Let’s always remember that it is our faith, our Christian faith, that gives the whole picture of our life—where we come from, where we are supposed to go, the purpose of our life here on earth, the true value of our mundane concerns, etc. 

 Let’s be theological in our thinking and reaction to the things of this world. For that, we, of course, would need some training. It should consist of always referring things to God, whatever they may be—good or bad, a success or a failure, a victory or a defeat, etc. We need to feel the urge to do so. 

 In short, we have to keep our spiritual and supernatural bearing which should involve a certain detachment from the things of the world. For this detachment to be lived, we should assume a certain spirit of gamesmanship or sportsmanship, since the effectiveness of our earthly affairs is not so much in whether we win or succeed in them as in whether we manage to refer them to God whatever the outcome. 

 We try to do our best to win in whatever endeavor we do, but just the same, whether we win or lose we remain happy and assured that we are all friends, brothers and sisters, and children of God. 

 The detachment involved here can be of the heroic type as illustrated in the gospel. “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble,” Christ said, “cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.” (Mt 18,8-9) 

 Though these words should not be taken too literally, we have to understand that we have to be ready to take extraordinary means if only to stay the course in our earthly activities.

Pray simply and from the heart

THAT’S what Christ practically told his disciples as to how to pray. “When you are praying, speak not much, as the heathens. For they think that in their much speaking they may be heard,” he said. He then continued: “Be not you therefore be like to them, for your Father knows what is needful for you, before you ask him.” (Mt 6,7-8) And he concluded by saying the Lord’s Prayer or the Our Father. 

 This prayer is the model prayer because, first of all, it came directly from Christ who can rightly be regarded as the master and model of prayer since he gives us what the Father gave him. And as the Word made flesh and as our Savior, he knows our needs and teaches us how to express them. He is the perfect link, perfect mediator between God and man. 

 This prayer is the model prayer also because it gathers the whole Christian Gospel into a simple form. It is the summary of the whole gospel, reflecting the heart of Christianity that shows us who God is and how we, as God’s children, should respond. 

 It also teaches us what to desire and in what order, showing us how our priorities should be with respect to what we have to ask God our Father. In other words, it orders our desires. It also trains us to pray as God’s children, and not just as isolated individuals. Thus, it is considered as the prayer of the whole Church. 

 This prayer is also considered as the model prayer because it is ordered toward God’s glory and God’s will. It includes the duty to ask for forgiveness for our sins as well as to extend mercy to those who may have done us wrong. 

 More than that, this prayer asks for deliverance from the real spiritual dangers we face in this life. In this prayer, we ask for protection even as we are encouraged to be vigilant and confident of God’s ever-ready help. 

 But more importantly, Christ tells us that our prayer should be trustful, God-centered and morally transformative, and not just performative or merely wordy. He warns us against “heaping up empty phrases” and “vain repetitions,” since prayer is not persuasion-by-volume, but rather is humble asking. 

 We have to understand that to pray properly means that God already knows our needs. It is not about informing God about what we need. It is rather turning our heart to him, showing how our relationship with him should be one of dependence on a Father who already knows our needs and cares for us. 

 Our prayer should have as an effect a certain conversion of heart and not just some vague feeling of being spiritual. It should lead us to acknowledge our sinfulness and our sins and should lead us to desire for reconciliation and change of ways. 

 We should therefore realize how important it is for us to know how to pray properly, since it is our way of uniting ourselves with God, our Creator and Father, with whom we are supposed to be always, since our life, as an image and likeness of God, is meant to be a shared life with God. 

 Praying is to our spiritual life what breathing and the beating of the heart are to our biological life. That is why St. Paul clearly said, “Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thes 5,17-18) 

 When we manage to truly pray, we can also manage to protect ourselves from all kinds of evil, and to heal whatever wounds and weaknesses we may have because of our sins. A sense of holy invulnerability can come to us.

Serving without a spotlight

THAT’S what Christ told his disciples, and now, us. “Take heed that you do not your justice before men, to be seen by them; otherwise, you shall not have a reward of your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 6,1) 

 As an example, he said: “Therefore, when you do an almsdeed, sound not a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.” 

 Christ wants us to practice our charity quietly, without fanfare, vanity or pride. We have to carry out what we may call as the ministry of the unnoticed. That way, we do good works with purity of intention. 

 Doing good while passing unnoticed was the way Christ lived charity. He helped a lot of people but refused to be given praise for it. Even in his best expression of love for us when he conquered sin and death through his resurrection, it was hidden. What was made public was his crucifixion and death. 

 This way of acting would ensure that our works of charity are fully directed toward God, and not for human applause, which can easily be used as a cover for hypocrisy. This may be called as a holy discretion which would only allow God to know the good works, protecting us from the dangers of vanity and pride. All the glory should be to God, making the effort to avoid diverting it to us, not even in a most subtle way. 

 This way of acting can only show the supernatural maturity we have reached. It reflects a shift from a “childish” need for approval to a living divine filiation where being seen by God alone is sufficient. 

 This should also be a lesson for all of us to follow. In all our thoughts, words and actuations, we should see to it that we feed our faith, that we are led to God, that in the end we manage to live true charity that includes all the other virtues. 

 We should do our best to avoid getting hijacked in the purely material or practical aspects of our life. We should imitate Christ in his discretion and restraint, in his art of passing unnoticed, in his effort to avoid grabbing unnecessary and dangerous attention from others, by seeing to it that our thoughts, words and deeds truly lead others to God, and not simply to us. 

 At best, we should simply be conductors to bring others to Christ. We should avoid making ourselves something like idols, objects of interest. The ideal situation would be that all who see us should see Christ, as he himself said it clearly to his apostles, then to us. 

 We have to learn to pass unnoticed while doing things that would lead others to Christ! We need to realize then that we have to take utmost care of our intention, making it as explicit as possible, and honing it to get engaged with its proper and ultimate object who is God. 

 We should try our best to shun being simply casual or cavalier about this responsibility. We can easily play around with it, since intentions are almost invariably hidden from public knowledge. We are urged to be most sincere in directing our intentions properly. 

 We can easily fall into hypocrisy and deception, doing what can appear good externally but is not internally, since we could refuse giving glory to God, which is the proper intention to have, and instead feed and stir our vanity, pride, greed, lust, etc.