[00:00] Praise be to Jesus and Mary, and I pray, "Do not store for yourselves treasure on earth, but store treasures in heaven. Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be." The Lord

[00:36] is pointing out here, if we seek for ourselves on this earth now, only to satisfy ourselves, we seek our end here on earth. That's where our treasure will be then. And when this life ends, well, where will it be? It won't be in heaven. But if we seek our treasure in heaven, if we seek only to serve God, make our goal, which really truly is to be heaven,

[01:13] there we seek our treasure, there we will find it. You see, our saint of today, St. Romuald, very well understood this. He spent his life founding monasteries that would live a hermetical life. In fact, he would have a, wherever he set up a monastery, he would have a hermitage built where he would just stay alone. And that was the lifestyle that they would lead. It became known as the Camaldolese. And that's exactly how they lived,

[01:45] their basic hermetical life, where you have your own little hermitage, and you spend your day, most of your day there, in that little hermitage. And you pray. And they do come together during the day for, say, a divine office, for example, perhaps Mass together. But the rest of the day, perhaps once a week, recreation, maybe it's every day, I can't

[02:17] remember exactly now. I did have an opportunity to visit one such monastery when I was in formation in Italy. That would be their way of life. The food would be brought to them and they could prepare it in their hermitage. So they would actually eat there in their hermitage. They would have a little garden there that they would keep. And they had their own oratory within that hermitage. And they would spend their day there, as I said,

[02:48] and come perhaps during the day together for the divine office and Mass, and perhaps once a week for recreation. So there was some community life as well, but it's mostly hermetical. You're alone with God. That is how St. Romuald did it. He would set up a hermitage for himself. And ultimately, when he felt his death was near, he was now in his seventies anyways,

[03:21] he came to the original monastery, the first monastery that he'd built, and he set up a hermitage where he placed himself inside. And he said, there were two monks who were accompanying him, assisting him. They were ordered to stay outside. He ordered them to stay outside. And he went in alone. By the time the morning came, the monks already understood what had happened. They went in and they found him having already given up his soul to God.

[03:52] But that is how he led his life, seeking only God, only heaven. He understood that's where his treasure would be. And so he won that treasure in heaven as the saint he is today. That is our goal. Union with God. Starting even now this life. That's what we must seek.

[04:23] Each according to our own state of life, but we must all seek that. What we do, what we think even. Everything for God alone. We must seek our treasure in heaven, not here on this earth. This is only passing, but in heaven. Seek the things that are above. Praise be to Jesus and Mary.