Daily Catholic Lectio
Fri, 21 June 2024
Eleventh week in Ordinary Time – Friday
2 Kings 11:1-4, 9-18, 20. Matthew 6:19-23
Mind and Body
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
“If the eye is healthy, the whole body will have light”
I saw a video two days ago. The author says, “The gap between one thought and another in our mind reveals who we are. The greater the distance between the two, the more peace of mind one has. If the distance between the two is less, he is restless.”
If we sit for a while and observe our thoughts, ten or twenty thoughts appear and disappear in a second. Even though we appear to be sitting on the outside, in our brains we keep running. There is a kind of excitement there. Sometimes, even when we are asleep, thoughts keep running like a screen.
How do we regulate these?
Jesus gives the most beautiful life lesson. That is, the reason why our mind wanders here and there is because we have wealth or primacy here and there. This is wealth! It’s wealth! He is wealthy! She is wealthy! That’s wealth! Hold it! Finish it! Do it now!’ Our hearts are running after various riches. All these riches are wealth that insects and rust can climb. Wealth that others can snatch and steal. But if we set our mind on something that is not destructible, our mind will stop wandering.
So, first of all, we must define our priority as ‘this is my wealth’ and ignore other wealth. We also need to teach our hearts: ‘Pay attention to this.’
Second, Jesus takes a contemporary saying and teaches it to his disciples. “The eye is the lamp of the body” is Greek philosophical thought. We see objects with the light of a lamp. We see objects because the eye has light. And it is through the eyes that the brain receives a lot of information. For example, if the eye knows and tells my brain that what is in front of me is bumpy, the brain will move my legs accordingly. Human knowledge, choice, and information gathering depend on the eyes. When such a capable eye becomes dark, or loses its light, the whole body becomes dark. It stops limbs from knowing where to go.
The second challenge Jesus poses is: What kind of things do we see? What kind of information do we send to the brain? We must adjust our vision and make it lighter.
So,
There are two lessons from the Gospel:
(a) To set the heart on that which is imperishable.
(b) Being attentive to the eyes that convey information to the heart.
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An undivided heart is pleasing to the Lord. (Jubilee 2025 AD, bite 130).
Fr. Yesu Karunanidhi
Archdiocese of Madurai
Missionary of Mercy
Yesu Karunanidhi 
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