June 17, 2022

Mt 6:19-23

Direct Our Eyes Toward the Light  

Over the winter I turned to a favorite hand-knit sweater. Not having used it in some time because I was “saving it,” I found numerous holes in places that rendered the garment hardly useful. It was a lesson to use the goods I have been given. 

To Jesus’s exhortation, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,” it is easy to counter with counsel to save for later in life. But Jesus’ admonition points to the vulnerability of the human heart to attach its hopes to the treasures we most immediately seek and to which we naturally direct energy: security, control, affection.  Possessions in these senses have their way of taking over our deeper, more selfless instincts by directing our passion toward things that will pass. We have been given the choice to direct the eyes of our hearts toward the light that permanently illumines our destiny. Though we make our decisions, we depend on a loving God to align our hearts.  

—Joseph Lagan is the director of the Ignatian Spirituality Program of Denver. 

Prayer 

Show me your way O Lord; Teach me your path. Guide me in your truth and teach me. You are God my savior, in you I place my trust all day long.

—Psalm 25:4-5