Thursday, September 21, 2017

“You Can’t Take It with You” by Colleen O’Sullivan


Indeed, religion with contentment is a great gain.  For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it.  If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that.  Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction.  For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains. 
(1 Timothy 6:6-10)

Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.
Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
“They will praise you for doing well for yourself,”
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.    (Psalm 49:17-20)

Piety
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
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

Study
I am seldom ever rendered totally speechless.  However, during one visit to my father in the final months of his life, I found myself unable to utter a single word.  Here was someone who was nearing the end of his life, and what comes out of his mouth?  Not “hello,” but “I’ve got to do something to make my money earn more.”  I thought to myself, Why? You have enough to take care of your needs.  You can’t take it with you.

That’s exactly what the psalmist says in today’s reading.  It doesn’t matter if you’re the richest person on earth; you’re still going to die like everyone else.  You’ll be buried with the family who’ve gone before you.  You will neither see the light of day on earth again nor the bottom line of your bank statement.

If you channel surf on any Sunday morning, you can find preachers telling you that God wants you to prosper, God wants you to be rich.  Well, yes, God does desire those things for us, but not in the way the prosperity gospel preachers would have us believe.   God desires that we be rich in faith, the only kind of wealth that follows us everywhere, even after death.  God hopes that we will be content with and grateful for having the things we need – food, clothing, and shelter -  and that we will turn that grateful satisfaction into faith, love, patience, and gentleness.  Invest for the long-term in God’s Kingdom. 

Money and the things money buys are neither good nor bad in and of themselves.  It’s when we love our wealth and our belongings more than we love God that we get off-track just as surely as if we built a golden calf and bowed down to it.  Certainly, there are many wealthy people who use their money for God’s purposes – helping the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the victims of natural disasters, etc.  As Paul says, it’s the love of money, not money itself, that can be the root of all evil.

Action
In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, under the section on the call and cost of discipleship, there is a meditation on the Three Classes of Persons.  It’s a meditation that asks us to consider the attachments in our lives that keep us from being fully able to say yes to God’s call to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  In today’s first reading, Paul writes to Timothy specifically about the love of money as one of those attachments, but there may be other loves in our lives that are equally problematic when it comes to being a disciple of Christ.

It’s worth taking the time to prayerfully do this meditation.  Imagine that you desire to be a disciple.  You are trying to follow the Lord.  At the same time, you have acquired something that also means a great deal to you.  In line with today’s Scripture readings, it could be a large sum of money.  As you consider each of these three classes of people, think about your attraction to that wealth and how you might deal with it so it doesn’t get in the way of your faith journey. 

The first person procrastinates.  He or she can see that this money (or whatever else you are attached to) is getting in the way, making it difficult to be totally free for Jesus.  Plans are made for dealing with this, but as time passes, lots of other things happen.  Life goes by and there’s always something else to do.  In the end, this disordered attraction to the money is still there.

The second person compromises.  He or she would like to be free for the Lord, but the pull away from Christ and toward that money is very strong.  Just like many of us do in our prayers, this person attempts to bargain or negotiate with God.  He or she wants to be free of what gets in the way of being fully available to Jesus, but the love of the money or other object is just so strong.  In the end, nothing changes.  The attraction to that thing other than God remains.

The third person is the one who is totally free and available for whatever Jesus calls him or her to do.  As St. Ignatius puts it:  The person typical of the third class desires to get rid of the attachment, but in such a way that there remains no inclination either to keep the acquired money or to dispose of it.  Instead, such a one desires to keep it or reject it solely according to what God our Lord will move one’s will to choose… (Spiritual Exercises 155)

Consider the things to which you are attached in this life.  Do they keep you from being fully free for Christ?  What choices have you made with regard to these attachments?  Can you see yourself in any of the three types of persons St. Ignatius describes? 

Whatever the result of your meditation, take time to share it in prayer with the Lord.

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