C: 19th Sun of Ord Time (11 August 2019) - POSSESSION AND POSITION (Lk 12:32-48)

A saying goes: “Your possession is your position.” What this statement means is that all the most valuable things to a person are spatially near him/her. Take, for instance, the location of cellphones, wristwatches and wedding rings. Cellphones are always at one’s side because communication matters especially in our new age when everything is digital, electronic and global. Wristwatches are worn because time is valuable particularly in a fast-paced society where all events and activities need to be religiously tracked. Wedding rings are put into the finger since family relationship is always cherished, reminding one of the purpose of his/her perseverance in life.

Jesus seemed to convey the same idea with his statement: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Lk 12:34). The two important words here are “treasure” and “heart” which are worth probing in their original Greek, thēsauros and kardia , respectively. Thēsauros is technically “a place where something is kept for safekeeping, [or a] repository” (cf. BDAG ), a chest/box in layman’s term. One can store therein gold, silver and jewelries (= treasuries), but so are land certificates, titles and sentimental antiquities (= valuables). In effect, thesauros does not only contain material treasures—the English translation is often misleading—but anything that is held valuable to the owner.

Meanwhile, kardia , though translated normally as “heart” does not refer strictly to the emotional faculty of the person.Kardia is generally understood “as seat of physical, spiritual and mental life” (cf. BDAG ). It then deals with the total psycho-spiritual bearing of a person or his/her integral state of maturity, which guides his/her everyday decision-making in life. Since kardia is not the untamed burst of the passions but the end-product of a willed decision, what is inside the kardia are governable, conditioned and developed. It is not beyond one’s control because it is a faculty of man’s volition and free-will, a “human act” so to say in the scholastic ethical language.Hence, we can then rephrase Jesus’ words as follows: “For where your true valuables are situated, there you can focus your undivided attention and full interest.”

Indeed, Jesus reminds us that our true valuables are not here on earth but in heaven (v. 33b) and heaven should be the primary driving force in one’s earthly existence. It should be the focus of our energy, not on material concerns that are passing and momentary. If gaining heaven should be our main goal, it follows that every activity we perform should be things that are intrinsically good, meritorious and virtuous. However, Jesus’ practical message is too radical: “Sell your possessions and give alms” (v. 33a). Of course, this does not necessarily mean giving up everything and leaving nothing behind for the self—though this was part of the heroic sacrifices of the monastic saints in history. Realistically, we are being challenged not to possess much, and must be very generous in sharing one’s giftedness to others, especially to the needy.

This is the same message Pope Francis delivered in his catechesis during his last Wednesday’s general audience as he asked, “And we, each of us, what do we own? What is our wealth, our treasure? What can we make others rich with?” He further continued, “We are indeed – as St. Paul would say – ‘poor, but capable of enriching many; as people who have nothing and instead possess everything.’” What Pope Francis teaches us here is that everybody has the capacity to share something, regardless of one's economic status. We also recall here the famous quote of St. John Paul II, “Nobody is so poor he has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich he has nothing to receive”. Let us then focus all our efforts in sharing generously our resources to one another, so as to facilitate everybody’s smooth entrance into God's kingdom in heaven.

- Rex Fortes, CM