In this class of the covetous are to be placed the young woman who marries a divorced man for his money, the public official who accepts bribe, the lawyer, the educators or clergyman who sponsors radical movements for gold, the capitalist who puts profits above human rights and needs and the labour leader who puts party power above the legitimate interests of the labourers. Covetousness is much more general in the world today than we suspect. It once was monopolized by the avaricious rich: now it is shared by the envious poor. Because a man has no money in his pockets is no proof that he is not covetous; he may be involuntarily poor with a passion for wealth far in excess of those who possess. History bears witness to the fact that every radical economic revolutionist in the history of the world has been interested in only one thing: booty. The only poor who ever attacked the rich and sought nothing for themselves were Our Lord and His followers, like Saint Francis of Assisi.
There are very few disinterested lovers of the poor today; most of their so called champions do not love the poor as much as they hate the rich. They hate all the rich but they love only those poor who will help them attain their wicked ends.
Such covetousness is ruinous for man, principally because it hardens the heart. Man becomes like that which he loves and if he loves gold, he becomes like it - cold, hard and yellow. The more he acquires, the more he suffers at surrendering even the least of it, just as it hurts to have a single hair pulled out even though head is full of them. The more the sinfully rich man gets, the more he believes he is needy. He is always poor in his own eyes. The sense of the spiritual thus becomes so deadened that its most precious treasures are battered away for the trivial increases, as Judas Iscariot sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver. As Saint Paul tells us: "The love of money is the root of all evil: in their desire for it some have strayed from the faith..." The Providence of God becomes less and less a reality and if it still retains value, it is reduced to a secondary role; God is trusted as long as we have a good bank account.
When things go well we are quite willing to dispense with God, like the young man in the Gospel who came to Our Lord only because he was being deprived of some of his father's estate. "Lord, tell my brothers to share the inheritance with me". It was only when economic confusion arose that the young man had recourse to the Divine. There are many in the world today who feel that the only reason for the existence of the Church is to improve the economic order and if they do not have their fill, they assail the Church for failing. Well indeed might the Church answer in the words of Our Lord: "Man, who made me judge or arbitrator over you?"
To turn man's heart away from perishable things to the eternal values of the soul, was one of the reasons for Our Lord's visit to the earth. His teaching from the beginning was not only a warning against covetousness but a plea for a greater trust in Providence. "Don't store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourself in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves neither break in nor steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be too".
"Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you shall eat or for your body, what you shall wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky - they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they? But which of you by worrying, can add one moment to his life? And why do you worry about what you will wear? Look how the lilies of the field grow; they neither work nor spin. But I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field which is here today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, won't He clothe you much better, O you of little faith? Do not worry, therefore, saying: 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we put on?' for the Pagans and Heathens seek all those things. Seek first the Kingdom and the will of God and all those things will be given to you also. So don't go worrying about tomorrow - tomorrow will worry for itself. One day's evil is enough for a day".
The man who unduly.......
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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