Praised be Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.
When the Lord spoke of “dishonest
wealth”, many of us might immediately think of material things that were
acquired dishonestly – something very similar to ill gotten wealth obtained
through the misuse of public funds. “Dishonest wealth” may be taken to mean
misappropriated funds – funds that were supposed to help the poor but ended up
into the pockets of the rich. However, “dishonest wealth” cannot be limited
only to wealth obtained at the expense of the poor.
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| Christ is the only true treasure |
Notice that the Lord speaks of
“dishonest wealth” as referring to all kinds of material goods, whether they be
obtained honestly or dishonestly. All material wealth is dishonest because such
deceive us into some false sense of security. We have always been taught that
the possession of material wealth gives us security in life. Thus, the more we
accumulate, the more secured our lives are. The more we possess, the greater
our capability to address our material needs like food, clothes, shelter,
medicine, education, and the like. The more possessions we have the more secure
our future becomes. This is the illusion that material things give us.
Such illusion ends at the moment
of death. At that moment, we realize that money cannot buy us a second more of
life on earth. We then will realize that money cannot be taken beyond the
grave. There is no way to transfer account from this world to the other world.
In other words, there is a limit to the power of money. It perishes together
with this material world. And yet, the Lord says: “If you are not trustworthy
with dishonest wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?” In speaking of
“true wealth” the Lord is referring to the treasures of the Kingdom of heaven
where rust does not corrode, moth cannot destroy and thieves cannot steal. The
test for trustworthiness with regards the true and lasting treasures of heaven
is the way we exercise our stewardship of the dishonest wealth of earth. The
test for our loyalty and worship of God is the way we deal with mammon. Do we
subjugate mammon and use material wealth to promote the work of God or do we
simply accumulate material wealth and end up being used by mammon? Do we love
money and use people or do we love people and use money? I think that the right
thing to do is to love people and use money. We use money to help people. We do
not use people to accumulate money. The Prophet Amos has a very stern warning
to those who enrich themselves at the expense of the poor: “You who trample
upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land…The Lord has sworn by the pride
of Jacob: Never will I forget a thing they have done.”
And so, let us not be overcome by
greed. Rather, let our dealings with the goods of the earth be governed by
charity. Remember that we are only stewards and not owners. The earth and
everything in it belongs to God. Whatever we have does not belong to us…it
belongs to God. “If you are not trustworthy with what belongs to another, who
will give you what is yours?” Remember that the Lord intends to give us the
inheritance of heaven, only if we be faithful stewards of the things of the
earth. There can be no double loyalties. You cannot serve two masters. You
cannot serve both God and mammon.
Jesus, I trust in you. O Mary
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
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