Friday of Week 11 in Ordinary Time - Matt 6: 19-23

Daily Gospel Exegesis

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Matt 6: 19-23 - 'Store up treasure for yourselves in Heaven.'

Catechism of the Catholic Church Paragraphs:

- 368 (in 'Body and Soul but Truly One') - The spiritual tradition of the Church also emphasizes the heart, in the biblical sense of the depths of one's being, where the person decides for or against God.

- 2533 (in 'The Ninth Commandment') - Purity of heart requires the modesty which is patience, decency, and discretion. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person.

- 2551 (in 'The Tenth Commandment') - "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."

- 2604 (in 'Jesus Prays') - Jesus' prayer, characterized by thanksgiving, reveals to us how to ask: before the gift is given, Jesus commits himself to the One who in giving gives himself. the Giver is more precious than the gift; he is the "treasure"; in him abides his Son's heart; the gift is given "as well" (abbreviated).

- 2608 (in 'Jesus Teaches us how to pray') - From the Sermon on the Mount onwards, Jesus insists on conversion of heart: reconciliation with one's brother before presenting an offering on the altar, love of enemies, and prayer for persecutors, prayer to the Father in secret, not heaping up empty phrases, prayerful forgiveness from the depths of the heart, purity of heart, and seeking the Kingdom before all else. This filial conversion is entirely directed to the Father.

- 2729 (in 'Facing Difficulties in Prayer') - The habitual difficulty in prayer is distraction. It can affect words and their meaning in vocal prayer; it can concern, more profoundly, him to whom we are praying, in vocal prayer (liturgical or personal), meditation, and contemplative prayer. To set about hunting down distractions would be to fall into their trap, when all that is necessary is to turn back to our heart: for a distraction reveals to us what we are attached to, and this humble awareness before the Lord should awaken our preferential love for him and lead us resolutely to offer him our heart to be purified. Therein lies the battle, the choice of which master to serve.

- 2848 (in 'And Lead us not into temptation') - "Lead us not into temptation" implies a decision of the heart: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... No one can serve two masters." "If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." In this assent to the Holy Spirit the Father gives us strength. "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with the temptation will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it."

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