Ut thesaurus in coelo collocetur
The Security of Heavenly Treasure
The king is exhorted to store up treasures in heaven, where they are safe from earthly decay and theft.
And so that the treasure of our goods may be laid up in heaven, the Lord admonishes us in the Gospel, saying: Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroys them. He says again in the Gospel to the rich man: If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, give to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me. So put your treasure in heaven, most illustrious king—where you don't need to fear an enemy or a conqueror, where you don't need to fear a hidden thief or a robber, and which no open plunderer or highwayman can snatch away.1
The Communion of Saints
A meditation on the heavenly homeland and the joyful company of saints who await the faithful.
For your homeland is paradise; since you will eventually be received into your homeland, you ought to store up abundant treasures there. A great number of those dear to you awaits you there; a plentiful throng of parents, brothers, and sisters longs to see you there—already secure in their own immortality, but still anxious about your salvation. For there the choir of the patriarchs awaits you, the company of the prophets longs for you, and the ranks of the apostles and of all the saints desire to see you. Oh, what great joy it is to reach the company of all these saints—to come into the happy embrace of them all! How supreme and everlasting a happiness it is there to behold the glorious choirs of the apostles; there to take your place in the sacred company of the rejoicing prophets; to stand among the white-robed ranks of virgins, martyrs, confessors, and of all the saints who triumph for the Lord!2
The Choice Between Treasures
A warning that one must choose between storing heavenly treasure through virtue or storing up wrath through vice.
So then, king, so that you may deserve to reach the happy company of these saints, store up good treasures from your estates in heaven every day, and don't store up bad ones. There are bad treasures as well as good ones, just as it is written: A good person brings good things out of the treasure of his heart. And a bad person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. When someone is puffed up by pride, inflamed by anger, unsettled by greed, goaded by cruelty, delighted by ambition, and driven headlong by lust—what are they doing but storing up treasures of wickedness for themselves? The apostle Paul says of such people: God handed them over to a debased mind, so that they do what is not fitting—filled with every kind of wickedness, malice, sexual immorality, greed, and depravity; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice; whisperers, slanderers, hateful to God, insolent, proud, arrogant, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, disorderly, without natural affection, without fidelity, without mercy.3 He also adds: Because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of God's just judgment.4
Read the original Latin
Et ut thesaurus rerum nostrarum in coelo collocetur, admonet nos Dominus in Evangelio, dicens: Thesaurizate autem vobis thesauros in coelo: ubi neque aerugo neque tinea demolitur. Ipse iterum in Evangelio diviti ait: Si vis perfectus esse, vade, vende quae habes, et da pauperibus, et habebis thesaurum in coelo; et veni, sequere me. Thesaurum ergo tuum in coelo pone, clarissime rex, ubi non timeas hostem et expugnatorem, ubi non timeas occultum furem, atque latronem, quem rapere non possit publicus praedo atque grassator. Patria enim tua paradisus est: in patria enim tua postmodum recepturus, multiplices debes recondere thesauros. Magnus te illic charorum numerus exspectat; parentum, fratrum atque sororum copiosa turba illic te videre desiderat de sua jam immortalitate secura, sed adhuc de tua salute sollicita. Chorus etenim te illic patriarcharum exspectat, numerus prophetarum desiderat, apostolorum et omnium sanctorum cuneus cernere cupit. O quam grandis laetitia est ad istorum omnium sanctorum pervenire consortium; ad istorum omnium felicem venire complexum! Quam summa et perpetua felicitas illic apostolorum gloriosos cernere choros; illic prophetarum exsultantium numero interesse sacrato; inter virginum, martyrum, confessorum et omnium pro Domino triumphantium candidatum cuneum interesse sanctorum!
Ergo ut ad istorum merearis, rex, felix consortium pertingere, patrimoniorum tuorum quotidie in coelo thesauros repone bonos, et noli condere malos. Sunt etenim thesauri mali, sicut et boni, sicut scriptum est: Bonus homo de thesauro cordis sui profert bonum. Et malus homo de malo thesauro profert malum. Quem enim superbia inflat, iracundia inflammat, rapacitas inquietat, crudelitas stimulat, ambitio delectat, libido praecipitat, quid aliud facit quam thesauros iniquitatis sibi reponit? De talibus enim Paulus apostolus ait: Tradidit illos Deus in reprobum sensum, ut faciant ea quae non conveniunt, repletos omni iniquitate, malitia, fornicatione, avaritia, nequitia, plenos invidia, homicidio, contentione, dolo, malignitate; susurrones, detractores, Deo odibiles, contumeliosos, superbos, elatos, inventores malorum, parentibus non obedientes, insipientes, incompositos, sine affectione, absque foedere, sine misericordia. De quibus et subdit: Quod secundum duritiem tuam et impoenitens cor thesaurizas tibi iram in die irae et revelationis justi judicii Dei.
Notes
- 1 ↩quem refers to thesaurum (masculine): the heavenly treasure that no public plunderer can seize, not the thief.
- 2 ↩candidatum cuneum: white-clad / white-robed band or ranks of saints (classical 'candidatus' as clothed in white).
- 3 ↩absque foedere rendered as 'without fidelity' (covenant-breaking / faithless); sine affectione as 'without natural affection,' matching Romans 1:31 sense.
- 4 ↩Quod introduces the quoted content; Vulgate Romans 2:5 begins with Secundum, not Quod. Rendered as direct quotation after 'adds'.
Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion
Rule yourself daily, not just on retreat
Chosen Portion turns the mirror into a daily practice — a short reading and examining question each morning before you lead anyone.
Chosen Portion makes the mirror daily: the ruler-formation questions this collection preserves become a two-minute morning examination in the app.
- A daily formation reading drawn from centuries of counsel to those in authority
- One pointed examination question a day — two minutes, before the meetings start
- Track your practice over weeks and watch the examined life become a habit