Crates was a young man who lived before Our Lord came into this world. When it came time to decide what to do with his life, he set his heart on learning philosophy. It was extremely important to him, and the day was quickly coming when he would leave for Athens to study.

Before starting his journey, Crates sold all his possessions. He was starting a new life; there would be no turning back. But then he did something rather strange. He gathered all his money, took it with him to the shoreline, and threw every last coin into the sea!

Naturally, Crates was asked why he had done something so foolish.

This was his answer: "Because I do not want my mind to be disturbed by the thought of worldly goods, or be drawn from my studies by the love of riches."

For a man who lived before Christ, studying philosophy was what most people used to help them judge right from wrong. While it would have been a more useful thing to give the money to the poor, his reason for throwing the money away was not a bad one. Crates had a good will and wanted to make the most out of his life.

But he had seen enough to know that when we look for more than what we truly need from this world, it can quickly disturb our peace, and distract us from the true purpose of our lives.

As Catholics, we are blessed to know what the true purpose of our lives is: To know, love, and serve God in this world, so that we can be happy with Him forever in the next.

But to do that, we must keep our priorities straight. As Jesus tells us, we must not store up our treasures in this world, where everything eventually decays. Instead, we should spend our life to store treasures for ourselves in Heaven - with prayers and good works.

So every day, ask our dear Mother Mary to help you stay focused on loving and pleasing God in everything you do, as she did when she was alive.