Where our hearts are

The Roman Catholic Lectionary today brings consideration of how our motivation to store up treasure for ourselves impacts our relationships with God and others. The passage from 1st Kings relates the history of the action of Athaliah, the only woman in the Hebrew Bible reported as having reigned as a monarch within Israel/Judah, as she kills the members of the royal family to attain the throne and how Jehoiada engineers a palace coup to restore Joash, Ahaziah’s heir to the throne and usher in a time of purification in Judah from the influence of baal which the former queen had begun. In the Gospel from Matthew, Friar Jude Winkler finds two wisdom sayings which direct us to keep our mind and attention focused on the things of heaven rather than the transitory temptations and teases of our culture of self aggrandizement. Craig Zimmer is reminded of poetry of  Fr. Pedro Arrupe, Superior General of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983, which asks us to fall in love and when we are then in intimate contact with God that will affect all the choices we make during the day. We will be able to act and keep our conscience in the direction of love and respect of others and ourselves.