Homily for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

It is a part of human nature that we move about our lives believing that we are building a life and a world that will last forever. But everything we have, create, or use will one day be gone. 

Today’s Gospel reading calls us to let go of the temporal and material things that fill our lives and, instead, to seek to possess the lasting treasures of God:

• Love of family and friends.
• The meaning that comes from living the principles of justice and mercy.
• The joy of helping others attain their dreams and hopes for themselves and their families.

The loving relationships that we share gain us treasure in heaven. No act of terrorism, injustice, violence, hatred, or indifference can take away the love that we share. These things may change the way that we can express that love — we will not see our loved ones when they die, we will not relate to them in the ways to which we have grown accustomed, but nothing can take that love away, and nothing can keep that love from being fulfilled in the kingdom of God. All love comes from God, and it is the greatest treasure we have in this life and the only treasure that we will bring from this life into the next.

As we pray about our Gospel reading this week, may we recognize those areas of our lives that keep us from the love of God and one another, may we have the courage and the wisdom to change our lives in ways that will bring us closer to the love of God and closer to our salvation.+