by Rev. Richard D. Wilson

We just heard Jesus say, “Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in Heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy.”

Yesterday/Friday I got to live out part of that statement. While the preparations for the feast were being taken care of out in the parking lot and downstairs in the kitchen, I came over to the sacristy to prepare my Mass case to go to Tripp Towers to say the First Friday Mass there. The Mass case had been my mother’s uncle’s. He died in 1992 and had served as a priest with the Trappists here in New England and then as a parish priest in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. He used the Mass case when he had to celebrate Masses outside of Churches and my family gave it as a gift to me when I was ordained in 1997. So, I was over here preparing the case to go, putting into it hosts, wine, water and linens. I then left it in the entranceway, behind a locked door, at 3:15 and came back to get it at 3:25. Well, it was gone.

Jesus said, “If the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not let his house be broken into.” We searched & searched, but could not find the Mass case (which looks like a small black suitcase). I couldn’t stay myself searching long, because I had to get to Tripp Towers to celebrate Mass (I grabbed more wine & hosts and headed out).

There, celebrating the Mass, I realized that my loss of this family heirloom was nothing in comparison to the suffering of many of the people there, either in terms of their own illnesses & injuries or in terms of the grief they have over the loss of loved ones. Praying with them put things into perspective.

Even with their difficulties those people were at Mass because they were storing up for themselves treasures in Heaven. Part of the treasury that they are trying to accumulate there would be their own deceased loved ones, for whom they pray and offer sacrifices. In gratitude for those prayers, those people will pray for them when they die.

The loss of my Mass case yesterday was a good thing in that it brought to mind again my uncle the priest, Father Vaughn, thus getting me to pray again for him and to pray that I might be a good priest like he was.

Jesus speaks to us about the need to carry out well our service here on this earth. He asks, “Who is the faithful & prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time?”

This is a question for each of us, in our own circumstances. For myself as a priest, the question is how well am I distributing the Bread of Life to the members of the household of this parish. For a parent, the question is how well are they providing for the physical and spiritual nourishment of their children. For someone taking care of their aging parents, the question is reversed but is still relevant. For someone living alone, the question is how well are they serving God in the people they encounter everyday.

Unlike Cain, who killed his brother Abel and who denied he was his brother’s keeper, we are responsible for our brothers & sisters and Christ tells us today that we will be called to account for how we loved them. If our lives have been ones which have helped to lift up spiritually, emotionally and physically our neighbors, then we will have stored up treasures in Heaven. If we have failed to recognize Christ in our neighbor, then the money bag will be fairly empty.