Lesson from Fr. Paulus | Serving the Right Choice

Jesus is incredibly realistic. He knows the human heart entirely because he is fully God and fully man. And so, he knows that it's impossible for us to serve two masters.

And so, Jesus puts it bluntly: "No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon."

"Mammon" was a term used in ancient Israel to signify riches. In modern terms, we might say that you can't have two full-time careers without prioritizing one over the other.

Therefore, in today's Gospel Jesus asks us to check our hearts. Whom do we serve? Do we serve God or have we made ourselves slaves of material possessions?

Money is not a bad thing. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that differences in levels of wealth "belong to God's plan, who wills that each receives what he needs from others and that those endowed with particular 'talents' share the benefits with those who need them" (CCC 1937).

Those who have been given the gift of wealth have a duty to use it wisely for the good of their brothers and sisters. So, money is not in itself a bad thing. But the love of money is destructive. It takes our minds off of heaven. It hardens our hearts to the needs of our brothers and sisters. It makes us anxious and unsettled, terrified that we might lose our nest egg of security.

Jesus wants us to be free to love him and others. In another gospel passage he tells us "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."

We choose where we want to dedicate our hearts. In today's Gospel, Jesus invites us to dedicate them to God above all else. If we do that, we find the joyful freedom that only he can give.

Zacchaeus Makes the Right Choice

The Gospel of Luke offers us the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who chose God over money.

He was greedy and had defrauded many people. And yet something in his heart was restless. He wanted more. And Jesus offered that to him. He offered him forgiveness and a new life.

It's important to note that Jesus didn't ask Zacchaeus to give up all his money. But he did ask him to be generous with what he had, and to stop cheating people.

Zacchaeus illustrates the fact that we can't serve both God and money. When we choose to serve God, money finds its proper role in our life.

Examine our Anxiety

I'd like to invite all of us to reflect on who our God is. Is it the Living God, or is it money?

St Francis De Sales said that an accurate way to gauge our attachment to money is to ask one simple question. "Am I filled with excessive anxiety at financial setbacks – or even at the mere thought of them?"

That could be a good question to ask the Lord now in Mass. And if we ask him, he will show us where we may have put material possessions ahead of him.

He wants to set our hearts free, so we're not enslaved to anything. He wants to be our great treasure, because only in him can our souls truly be at rest.