Wednesday, December 30, 2009



When you find your intellect occupied pleasurably with material things and becoming fondly attached to its conceptual images of them, you may be sure that you love these things more than God. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Maximos the Confessor)

Maximos is quoting from the sermon on the mount. A bit more context:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

It is a matter of priority and proportionality. I do not hear Jesus rejecting worldly pleasures (Maximos is more rigorous in this regard). But there is a clear injunction to put God and neighbor first.

God does not honor hoarding. When the gathering and keeping of stuff -- money, property, and more -- is motivated by conceptual images rooted in either fear or desire for control we are distracted from reality

God does not honor obsessions or compulsions. These are empty idols. God will help free us from unhelpful conceptual images and restore us to meaningful relationships.

God is calling us to fulfillment. We are fulfilled in relationship with what is real and present.

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