Where is your heart? Homily for Thursday, June 25, 2026

I think the most important line of the entire gospel is when Jesus says, “I never knew you.” I never knew you. I didn’t have your heart. I didn’t really have what should be the great treasure that I’m longing to give you. You did a lot of wonderful things. You understood the power that I have to change lives, to bless. But you didn’t give me your heart. I never knew you. Readings for Today.

Where is your heart?

This king in the first reading is just not a good man at all. He was involved in incestuous relationships, and he was willing to do whatever it took to have some power. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He was a vassal first to the king of Egypt. He was a vassal for a short time to King Nebuchadnezzar.

But his name won’t really be remembered for anything noteworthy in terms of virtue. He was a tyrant. He was just so concerned about keeping what he thought was his treasure, that his heart was in all the wrong places.

The heart is an amazing, amazing thing. Our hearts tell us what really matters to us. What’s really important. What we would sacrifice for or what we would hope in our lives we could have. And it can be any number of things. It could be fame, it could be fortune, it could be power or control. But whatever it is, it tells us who we really are.

I suspect that deep inside the king was a very frightened little man, very afraid. And so, he needed to project this tremendous image of strength, even though he wasn’t very strong.

Jesus gets at this in the gospel as well today. I think the most important line of the entire gospel is when Jesus says, “I never knew you.” I never knew you. I didn’t have your heart. I didn’t really have what should be the great treasure that I’m longing to give you. You did a lot of wonderful things. You understood the power that I have to change lives, to bless. But you didn’t give me your heart. I never knew you.

What is it that we really value in our life? You know, I remember when I was president of Fenwick High School, when we looked at the budget, the budget is really a mission statement. You spend your money on what is really valuable to you, especially over those things that you have some choice, discretionary income. I could buy this or I could buy that. I could save this or I could save that. I could give this or I could give that.

Fulton Sheen, the great Archbishop, was said one time as a person indicated how holy he was. He corrected. He said, “You don’t know that I’m holy. You only know that I speak of holy things.” Where is your heart today? How much of it does God have?

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