Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.

In my former life, I presented a workshop entitled “Work, Family, Faith: Finding Balance.” I would begin with a simple exercise: “In the course of a typical week, where do you spend your time?” I’d ask the participants to be very specific on the worksheet I provided. The results were pretty predictable. Most of the time was focused on work-related activities — sometimes too much time, especially in relation to time spent with family, which usually came in a distant second. And predictably, faith got that hour of Mass on Sunday and maybe a mention of praying grace at meals.

Forty years later, I believe times have changed for us lay people. I think we spend more daily time in prayer and contemplation. More of us are daily communicants. Those of us seeking to live a Eucharistic spirituality move through our day, living more consciously in a spirit of gratefulness and awe at God’s creation. We strive daily to discern how to be “bread broken” for a hurting world and respond concretely to Jesus’ command to love one another. (My sense, too, is that younger generations are striving to spend more time with their children and loved ones. I hope so.)

Jesus’ saying today from the “Sermon on the Mount” is, among other things, a simple reminder about priorities. Where does our treasure lie? How/where do we spend our time? – there your heart lies. I pray it is a good mix.

Let Us Pray:

Lord Jesus, you showed us the love of God, the creator of the universe, in the gift of yourself we remember at each Eucharist. Help us keep our priorities straight as we seek to see you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly, day by day, by day.