Treasure in Heaven

One

Giving to Christ

Over and over again in the Gospel, Christ urges His followers to take care of the poor and to give to them generously.

One of the most vivid passages is in Matthew 25, when He gives the parable of the sheep and the goats, and states that those who give to the poor will be rewarded because, in giving to the poor, they are actually giving to Jesus. And, correspondingly, those who don’t give to the poor are putting their own salvation at risk, because they are actually ignoring Jesus.

So here’s an initial question to ask yourself as we reflect on the Gospel call to give to the needy, “Are you giving enough money to Jesus?”

Two

The Preferential Option for the Poor

Another place in the Gospel where Jesus talks about giving to the poor is when he gives instructions about hospitality. This is what He says, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid.  But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you.  You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Lk 14: 12-14).

The Church has codified this instruction in what is called the Preferential Option for the Poor. 

The Catechism says, “those who are oppressed by poverty are the object of a preferential love on the part of the Church” (#2448)

It’s a pretty straightforward, commonsense principle: all it says is that the Poor should receive special attention and focus. 

Obviously, they’re the ones who need it the most. So, if you’re going to give, make sure you consider giving to them. If you’re going to be generous, be generous to them first.

Three

Treasure in Heaven

Now another Gospel passage. Do you remember the rich young man who came to ask Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life, what it was he still lacked in order to be perfect?

Do you remember what Jesus said to him? After telling Him to keep the commandments, Jesus told him to sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and that he would have treasure in Heaven. 

In other words, Christ told the rich young man that he should convert one kind of currency into another, that he should exchange his earth-bucks for heaven-bucks. And the people who could exchange that currency for him were the poor.

Mother Teresa spoke of three types of poverty: material, social and spiritual. She would say, “Calcutta is everywhere.” The most serious form of poverty is spiritual. To live life without food, water, shelter or health care is bad. But to live life without a relationship with God is far worse. Physical poverty will end. Spiritual poverty, the choice to live without God, can go on forever. 

That is why the primary mission of the Church is evangelization. 

So when we support financially Catholic efforts to lead people to Jesus and help them to a deeper relationship with him, then we are combatting the most serious form of poverty which is spiritual poverty.

And we’ve got a lot of that right here in America.

Four

Lay Up for Yourselves Treasure in Heaven

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

Jesus is telling you how to invest in an absolutely secure commodity, an absolutely stable currency, utterly immune from inflation or market fluctuations of any kind: treasure in Heaven. And to get it, all you have to do is give to the poor or to organizations that serve those who are materially or spiritual poor. 

So how much should you give to the poor?

Well, how would you act if you knew with absolute certainty that everything in your current portfolio would become, at any moment, absolutely, utterly worthless? If your paper money, digital currency, stocks and bonds – if all of it was about to become as worthless as wall-paper?

You’d probably try to convert as much of it as you could into something more secure like gold, land, beef jerky, or something.

Well, Jesus is reminding you that this is exactly what’s going to happen to all your material wealth on the day that you die. It’s going to be worth exactly zero because you get to take exactly zero of it with you. Your death is your equivalent of a total market crash. And you don’t know exactly when you’re going to die but you do know that it’s not too far away, and it’s getting closer. 

So ask yourself, might it be a good idea to convert some more of your wealth into heavenly treasure? Might it be a good idea to give some of your money to the poor, and to the Church? The more you give now, the more there will be waiting for you in the eternity to come. 

Five

Superfluous Income

Obviously, we would ideally give to the poor because they need it, because we have more than enough and they have less than enough, and we want to take care of them out of love.

Unfortunately, a lot of our lives are so overrun with details that charitable giving gets set on the back burner. Our Lord knows it, and in the Gospel passages we’ve been talking about, He tries to motivate us to give to the poor not just because they need it, but because we do.

That comes out too in the parable about Lazarus and the rich man. Yes, Lazarus needs material help now – because he’s poor, and homeless, and on the rich man’s doorstep. But the rich man is, in a sense, in an even more desperate situation, only he doesn’t know it. It’s not just his worldly comfort that’s at stake, it’s his eternity.

And we’re rich too because to be rich just means to have more than you need.

Do we really need all we have? Do we really need all the entertainment, all the eating out, all the travel, all the stuff we order online?

If not, then why not take some of that money and give it away?

The rich man didn’t realize the danger of having too much until it was too late. Let’s not make the same mistake.

Since every meditation should end with a resolution, let’s get concrete and practical.

In the book of Leviticus 27:30, God commanded a tithe, that means 10%. I’m not sure if that meant gross or net but think of this: There are 100,000,000 baptized Catholics in the U.S. Let’s say there are 8 million practicing households. The median household income is $68,700. 10% of the median household income after tax is about $5000 x 8,000,000 = 40,000,000,000. 40 Billion – wow we could do a lot for the poor with that.

So, are you giving 10% after tax to the Church and the poor in some way?

If we are not, well, then we may be guilty of stealing.

The Catechism, quoting St. John Chrysostom, vigorously recalls that, “Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.” 2446