Where Your Treasure Is, There Your Heart Will Be

Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23, Psalm: 89, Col 3:1-5.9-11, Lk 12:13-21

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, our readings today strike a powerful chord, confronting us with a fundamental question: Where is our ultimate treasure? In a world constantly urging us to acquire, achieve, and accumulate, God’s Word offers a profound and counter-cultural wisdom, calling us to true freedom and lasting security.

In today’s first reading, The Teacher, Qoheleth, begins with a stark declaration: “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!” He reflects on the exhausting toil of life – working with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, building up possessions, only to leave it all to someone who may not have labored for it. This can bring “sorrow and grief,” even sleepless nights. It’s a picture of profound existential anxiety when our labor and possessions become our ultimate end.

In today’s second reading, St. Paul provides the glorious answer to Ecclesiastes’ lament! “If then you were raised with Christ, seek what is above…” Our Baptism radically changed our reality. We died to an old way of life centered solely on the earth (“what is on earth”). Now, our true life is “hidden with Christ in God.” This demands a decisive shift in focus and action:

In today’s Gospel, Jesus confronts us with a vivid parable sparked by a dispute over inheritance – a classic struggle over earthly possessions. The rich man experiences a bountiful harvest. His response? “What shall I do?” Notice his complete self-absorption: “I have no place… my crops… I shall tear down… I shall store… my goods… my soul.” He makes no thought for God, the source of his bounty, nor for his neighbor in need. His security rests solely on his overflowing barns. God’s response is devastating: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Jesus concludes with the piercing point: “Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

The man isn’t condemned for being wealthy or prudent in itself. He is condemned for his idolatry of self-sufficiency and his neglect of his relationship with God and his duty to others. His “treasure” was exclusively material, hoarded for self. He failed to be “rich in what matters to God” – faith, charity, mercy, justice, love of God and neighbor. Pope Francis powerfully addresses this: “The ‘no’ to the idolatry of money… frees us from greed and from the worry of possession… Money must serve, not rule!” (Evangelii Gaudium, 58). The fool’s life ended in eternal poverty because he ignored the true wealth of God.

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, The cry of “Vanity!” from Ecclesiastes finds its answer not in despair, but in the triumphant call of Christ through Paul: “Seek what is above!” The tragic folly of the Rich Fool stands as a stark warning against building our lives on the shifting sands of earthly treasure alone. True comfort, true strength, and true freedom come when we anchor our hearts in Christ, our true Treasure. Let us shed the old self of greed and anxiety, and put on the new self, renewed in His image. Let us work diligently in this world, yes, but let us work first and foremost to be “rich in what matters to God.” Then, even amidst life’s toil and uncertainty, our hearts will find their rest, knowing our life is hidden securely, eternally, with Christ in God. Amen.

Pope Benedict XVI taught that this “seeking the things that are above” is not about neglecting the world, but about “purifying our actions in the world… It is about living in the world with God, for God, and in view of God.” (General Audience, Aug 31, 2011). 

St. John Chrysostom urged, “Let us look upwards… Let us set before our eyes the heavenly host, the beauty of the angels, the glory of the blessed… and we shall easily overcome all the attractions of this present life.” Paul shows us that our liberation from vanity comes through union with Christ.