Our Golden Touch

             by Rev. Robert J. Hermley

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We all remember the childhood story of King Midas and the golden touch.  A greedy king loved wealth so much that he wished everything he touched would be turned to gold.  He was granted his wish and began to touch everything in his palace.  He was amazed and pleased to see each object he touched turn to bright gold.

In the midst of his greedy activity, his young daughter entered the room and he immediately embraced her.  What horror filled his eyes as he watched her turn to golden stone and stand before him a beautiful but mute mass of gold!  To get his daughter back, he had to give up all the gold he had already amassed, and also the gift of the golden touch.

If Midas has been satisfied with spiritual gold, things could have been different.  St. Paul tells us:

    "The fact is whether you eat or drink - whatever you do - do all for the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:13)

St. Francis de Sales tells us that every action we perform can be offered to God for our sanctification.  Cleaning the house, making breakfast for the family, making beds, cooking meals, teaching family values to the children are all acts that can be turned into spiritual god.  All we need do is tell God each day, "All the work I do today I offer to you, God, so that you can make me holy."  As we do this, every action we perform will take on a spiritual value far greater than Midas ever imagined.  Housework, caring for the family, cooking, correcting the children, bring children into the world will not then be seen as slave labor and drudgery, but as rungs on a ladder leading us to heavenly wealth.

Let us heed St. Paul and St. Francis de Sales and turn every work and deed into spiritual gold to offer to God as a ransom for our failures and sins.