Reflections on a Spilled Glass of Wine

                                                                                             






​ By Sr. Diana Maria


“…where moth and rust doth corrupt,” I muttered to myself while furiously mopping up a spilled glass of wine.

I was mocking myself for my attachment to the lovely things I’d collected over the years: most especially, in this case, certain items in the path of the small flood: a diminutive hand carved Nativity set, the tiny faces of which were breathtakingly expressive. It was sitting on top of a small green Primitive antique table, maybe 200 years old.  The little green table happened, in turn, to be situated above my 9’x7’ handmade Iranian rug.
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My first thought as the wine glass tipped in slow motion had been, “Thar’ she all goes!”
Because I’ve had the increasing feeling that I have somehow managed to store up way too much treasure on earth, to all of which I am way too attached.
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I would be quick to note in my own defense that I have been diligently adding to my store of treasure in heaven at the same time as I have been accruing my worldly goods, and in the usual ways: prayer, service, obedience to the Commandments, attending Mass faithfully and frequently; but I had a certain uneasy feeling that there would come a time when the two---storing my treasures on earth and storing my treasure in heaven—would come to be at odds with one another. A show-down, if you will.
And I remember Bob Dylan as he sang, “You’re gonna have to Serve Somebody!... well, it may be the Devil…or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to Serve Somebody--”

I often identify with the rich man who asks Jesus what he must do...; Jesus tells him to obey all the commandments….  The young man says that he’s already done those things, “what more should I do?” and Jesus tells him to sell all he owns and give to the poor…
“ When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.” Matthew 19:22 (NAB) 

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Not too long ago I saw Mary Poirier (wife of singer songwriter and evangelist John Michael Poirier) say in a Youtube clip from their ministry Leave the Light On, “I want to be a saint.”*

                                                                            *Gasp*

A Saint?  I was pretty sure that that would mean giving up, like, ownership of all my little treasures. And as I told a priest not long afterward while discussing it in confession: “A saint…?  I've been perfectly happy trundling along toward purgatory like everyone else!”

It was just interesting to me that three of the Things most precious to me had been in the path of that spilled wine.
And I observed my own reaction: How I had jumped to attention, all action to mitigate the damage, and yet at the same time I was chuckling ruefully to myself:
“… but store ye up treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt….”
And, as the nanoseconds ticked by, it was revealed that:
 The red wine was not in contact with the wooden nativity long enough to ruin its original stain;
Nor had the wine’s acidity damaged the original paint on my primitive antique table;
And as to the rug? The wine hadn’t even touched it.
But somehow, suddenly, a slight, graceful, shift of consciousness,
and they were all just Things, after all.
And maybe, just maybe, I could give them up.
And I felt a little lighter and closer to heaven.

Maybe I want to be a Saint.

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