Justin Appel

“Lift up your hearts.”
“We lift them up to the Lord.”

Dear Friends,

In this exchange said at every Eucharist, the priest instructs us to raise our hearts to God. But how can we do this if our hearts are weighed down by our idols, our sins, our distractions?

I can say these things have so often prevented me, not just from worship, but from fully offering myself as a living sacrifice to God. If our hearts are weighted down with the earthly dirt of worldly distractions, how can we fly up to heaven?

This is the problem Jesus poses in today’s Gospel lesson regarding excessive wealth.

Jesus speaks clearly, and the teaching of church fathers like St. Basil the Great and St. John Chrysostom echo his teaching: that excessive wealth is an encumbrance that can prevent us from entering the kingdom of God. St. Basil goes so far as to suggest that the accumulation of great wealth equals a failure to love.

Of course, I can try to remove myself from this critique, particularly if I seem to have much less than the rich people around me. But St. John Chrysostom taught that whatever one has beyond his needs, that this excess ought to be given to those who have less.

It’s easy for me to adjust my idea of what constitutes my “need.” According to St. John, the parable in which the rich man tears down his barns and builds newer, bigger barns illustrates this problem.

By the logic of Christ’s words, if I have nothing to share with others, my definition of “need” isn’t accurate. My desire for comfort and security can easily blind my eyes to the needs of others.

These are extremely challenging words from Jesus—and they apply to us all.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin