I have served as a chaplain full-time in a hospital for eight years, throughout the COVID pandemic, from start to finish. In my ministry, I have often reminded my patients of what Jesus said in today’s Gospel: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:19-21). While you are a hospital patient, it is possible for you to store up treasure in heaven by receiving God’s love and truth, and by communicating that love and truth to others, both in words and in deeds. If you can accept your hardships and offer them up to God in union with his Son, Jesus Christ, then you will store up for yourself (and for others) treasures in heaven.
Meanwhile, for hospital patients, many of the treasures of this earth begin to decay. The job. The clothes. The parties. The sports and entertainments. The hair and makeup. The lawn. The housekeeping. The bills. The food. Hardest of all: the body itself. It doesn’t matter how healthy your lifestyle has been: your body will, one day, decay and turn to dust. This is a crucial message for hospital patients and families and health care professionals: the health of the body is not the greatest good. The health of the soul is more important, by far. That means having treasure in heaven. That means using some of the treasures of this earth on a temporary basis, and, ultimately, letting them all go.