Reading: Colossians 3:1-4.     “Honey, I want to do something for God. What should I do?”

    Bobby rubbed his eyes. It was 2:30 in the morning, and he had been sleeping soundly. He looked at Rosie to make sure she was really awake. He wanted to see if maybe after thirteen years of marriage she had taken up sleep-talking. Rosie was star­ing at him with her enormous brown eyes, holding her breath. “Well?” she said. Bobby looked at her again. She was fully awake; he sat up.

“What do you mean, sweetie? Like what?”

    “Yea, like what could I do for God? I want to do something meaningful in my life.” She looked in earnest at her beloved hus­band. She was dead serious.

Bobby stifled a yawn. He didn’t want to be rude, and Rosie’s tone sounded serious. He shifted to turn toward her.

“Well, like what? You sing in the choir. You usher, help with communion, and teach the high schoolers. Your banners hanging up by the altar are really pretty, sweetie. And what about all those casseroles that you always make for the new moms? Is that what you were thinking of?”

Rosie smiled. “No. I want to do something for God. You know. Something meaningful. Something important.”

“Oh.” Bobby didn’t really know what to say. “What about our kids? They are great kids, even if I do say so myself. They’re good at school. They love their sports and instruments. They have nice friends. That’s something very special to me.”

    Rosie’s eyes rolled upward in exasperation. “No, that’s just because you’re their father. I want to do something for God. God. You know.”

    Bobby was stumped. What could she mean? He fought back a yawn. “Well, sweetie peetie, I’m not sure I know what you’re think­ing about. You have nice friends yourself. You always keep the house so tidy, and I love it when our friends come over. I’m always so proud of you. That’s important.”

“No, that’s for you, for them, for my own feeling,” Rosie said. She sighed. “I want to do something meaningful. Some­thing important.”

    “Well, I don’t know. Your work at the shelter is appreciated. And what about the layettes you help put together for the hospital? And people love your little blankets you sew up for the AIDS ward. That’s important. Is that what you mean?”

    Rosie looked at Bobby and began to yawn. “No, honey. I was thinking that’s all for people. I want to do something important. Something for God. But what can it be? What should I do?”

    Bobby was so tired his eyes almost crossed. He took his wife in his arms. “Sweetie, we’ll have to think about it and ask God to help us think. In the meantime, why don’t you just be yourself until you get an answer?”

He held her tight and she relaxed. He looked down at her. She was sleeping peacefully.

-- Constance Berg

Source: Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit

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SEEKING HEAVENLY TREASURES

In this Easter Sunday Second Reading, Saint Paul says, “Seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” Saint Paul had a lot of on his mind about heaven. During his apostolic life, he knew few earthly comforts. He was beaten, stoned, left to dead, and frequently disappointed by people. But it seems that he had no concern for pleasant feelings. In contrast, he only wanted to live a productive life in pursuit of his heavenly goal.

In a similar way, we should have the same focus if we are going to pursue our heavenly reward. Christ is from heaven and in heaven. Heaven is his place, and because we are his, heaven is our place as well. If we are preoccupied with being like him, we will naturally be preoccupied with heaven. What happens there should be more important to us than what happens here.

In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus first gave security as a reason for choosing heavenly treasure. He said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20). Then, Christ added sanctification as another and superior reason for choosing heavenly treasure. He said, “For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:21).

Because the effect of our treasure is so great upon us, we should be unduly concerned to be wise in the choice of our treasure. Hence, Saint Paul teaches us, “Think of what is above, not of what is on earth” (Colossians 3:2).

In a Reader’s Digest article titled “You Can Make a Million,” Randy Fitzgerald tells the story of how one immigrant couple amassed a fortune:

Humberto and Georgina came to America from Cuba as penniless refugees in 1960. Humberto learned English in a Long Island, N.Y., high school; Georgina spent her early years in Los Angeles. They met when Georgina was a student at the University of Miami, and married in 1972. Both eventually landed jobs as reporters for a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., newspaper, a profession that rarely leads to great wealth. But a math teacher had taught Humberto the importance of compound interest, and early in the couple’s marriage, they decided to save every possible dollar for investment.

Their formula was simple though challenging. They bought only compact cars and paid their credit-card bills in full every month. They shopped at discount stores, clipped “cents off” coupons and took sack lunches to work. Some years the couple saved up to 66 percent of their income. In 1987 they began investing $1,250 a month in five diversified-stock mutual funds. And that strategy over eight years produced the bonanza that gave them millionaire status. Last year they made more money from their investments than from their two salaries.

Storing up treasures like this sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? But if this sounds good, imagine how great a treasure stored up in heaven will be. Jesus said the value of heavenly treasures far surpasses any treasure on earth.

In the book Her Life, a story was told about Saint Catherine’s ecstasy of heavenly glory. God once allowed Saint Catherine of Siena to see in ecstasy a ray of heavenly glory. When she came to herself, she cried out: “I have seen marvels, most wonderful marvels.” Her confessor bade her explain more clearly what she had seen, but she replied: “I should be guilty of sin, if I pretended to describe it, for human words cannot express the value and magnificence of the heavenly treasures.”

Heavenly treasures are eternal and ennobling. They are eternal in that they last forever. For in heaven “neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal” (Matthew 6:20). We will never be parted from our heavenly treasures, for death has no effect upon eternal things. Furthermore, heavenly treasures are ennobling. They ennoble the soul. One whose treasures are in heaven will have much interest in heaven and heavenly things.

Where are your treasures? What consumes your interest and time and thoughts? Answering these questions will reveal the condition of your soul.

Rev. Linh N. Nguyen