Br. David Vryhof

I Corinthians 3:10-14, Matthew 6:19-24

The great spiritual leader of India, Mahatma Gandhi, once said, “We become what we yearn after. Hence the need for prayer.”[1] What could he have meant by this?

“We become what we yearn after” does not mean that we will get whatever we desire. I may yearn to become wealthy or popular or successful, but this is no guarantee that I will become any of those things.

What it does mean is that the things I yearn after will invariably shape and form me. If I yearn after wealth, for example, my desire to become wealthy will influence everything: the friends I choose, the neighborhood I want to live in, the type of work I am willing to do, the material possessions I work to acquire, and the people who matter most to me. I will choose those things that will enable me to become wealthy, and I will leave aside the rest. I am likely to overlook the beggar sitting outside my gate. This yearning for wealth will shape who I am and what I will become.

“Hence the need for prayer.” Since this is the case, Gandhi suggests, we need times of prayer to examine ourselves, our motives, our goals, the ways we relate to others, and our vocation or calling in life. Only when we look at our lives through the lens of God’s values and God’s purposes can we see what is worthwhile, what will endure, and what choices will best reflect the purpose for which God has made us.

“We become what we yearn after; hence the need for prayer.” Our desires will shape and form the type of person we become; hence the need to examine and reflect on our deepest values, our priorities in life, and our motivation for making various choices.

Gandhi, who was not a Christian, valued the teachings of Jesus and would have assented to the truth of Jesus’ words in our Gospel text today: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). See also Luke 12:33-34 and Matthew 19:21.

With these words, Jesus invites us to reflect on the difference between “treasures on earth” and “treasures in heaven.” Earthly treasures are temporary material possessions – money, property, goods – that are subject to decay and theft, while heavenly treasures are eternal rewards gained through good works, generosity, and faith. Jesus calls us to spurn the first in order to embrace the second. Earthly treasures pass away, but heavenly treasure lasts forever. It is not subject to corruption or theft; it endures beyond the grave.

In our lesson from 1 Corinthians, St. Paul suggests that we are builders who must “choose with care how [we] build.” For there will come a day when what we have built using our time and our talents will be put to the test, to see whether it will last or whether it will be consumed.

So choose wisely. Choose prayerfully. Choose to put your time and effort into those things that will endure.

[1] Mahadev Desai, diary entry quoted in Krishna Kripalani, ed., All Men Are Brothers (New York: World Without War Publications, 1972), s.v. Gandhi.