(This article courtesy of the Arlington Catholic Herald.)
What does matter to God? The entire Bible is a gradual and progressive revelation of what matters to God. Ultimately, what matters to God is our being saved — our living in deep union with Him here and hereafter. St. Ignatius of Loyola, whose feast we celebrated on July 31, designed the Spiritual Exercises — his retreat format — precisely to engage the person on retreat in responding to this fundamental question: “Is your ultimate goal union with God?” Anything that helps to achieve this goal is good and to be sought, whereas anything that hinders achieving this goal is evil and to be avoided.
Here are some basic criteria for evaluating how we live life here in preparation for living life hereafter:
(1) What matters to God is our union with Him. God desires that we know Him, love Him and serve Him in this life, and that we be with Him for all eternity in the next life. What fosters our union with God? Prayer, reflection on God’s Word, and sacramental celebrations. So then, do we pray daily at home? Do we reflect on God’s Word, especially the Gospels, on a regular basis or even every day? Do we listen carefully to God’s Word as it is proclaimed to us at every Mass in the Liturgy of the Word? Do we celebrate the sacraments regularly: at least weekly Eucharist on Saturday evening or Sunday and the regular confession of our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?
(2) What matters to God is our union with Him. To achieve this we must be transformed more and more into the image of Jesus. We must “put on the new self,” as St. Paul reminds us in today’s second reading. This means growing in virtue and removing from our thoughts, words and actions “immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and … greed that is idolatry,” again as St. Paul tells us today.
(3) What matters to God is our union with Him. Union with Him is intrinsically linked to our union with others, including those who form with us the one Body of Christ, His Church. How do we treat one another within our family, our neighborhood, our parish, our community, our place of work? And how do we use the blessings which God has given us? No blessing is for ourselves alone, but rather for others. God has blessed each and every person in this church with particular gifts and talents. Are we using these gifts and talents for the good of others or are we like the man in the parable which Jesus just told us, storing up our riches and gifts for ourselves alone only to discover in the end that all these riches and gifts, when used selfishly, bring us no lasting happiness? St. Basil gives us good advice when he says: “the best investment we can make is in charity because the dividends pay off in eternal life.”
Being really rich means living in union with God, seeking all that matters to God. When we pray “If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts,” we must listen well and deepen our desire to learn what matters to God, to live in union with Him. Then, we shall become really rich. St. Paul’s words now make much more sense, do they not? “…seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Yes, sisters and brothers, let us become really rich, treasuring what matters to God and thereby living life here in union with Him so as to live with Him forever in heaven.
Let us become rich in those things that matter to God: love for God and neighbor, selflesslessness in donating our time and energies to support our parishes, and commitment to serving each other and the local community. As you live your life, I urge you to be really rich, to treasure what matters to God in all you think, say and do. If you do this, then you will be a lighted city on a hilltop proclaiming Christ, the light of the world.
