Ah, the "root of all evil" according to Paul.
We rail against it in our society yet at the same time we own more (and owe more) in our society than any other civilization in history. Our desire for material goods seems to be something that is rooted in our very being. It seems that as soon as we are bored or have a free moment or a desire to fulfill a need, we turn to the local mall.
If I could only get that article of clothing.
If I could only get that car.
If I could only get that computer.
If I could only get that music system.
Then I could relax. Then I could be happy. Then my life would be complete and I would not feel that I am desperately struggling to "make it" to live up to the standards of the people around me. This is the deadly whirlpool that we find ourselves in.
We are unable to relax because we are not "poor in spirit", we do not recognize that we can be at peace with God. We then go and buy things because we can and we are bored. Due to the fact that we have bought things, we have to buy more things to store the things that we bought or to keep the things that we bought up to date.
The reality is that the root of our greed is our pride, thinking that God will not provide for us and treating material goods as if they will supply the solution to the emptiness that we find in our souls. We then find ourselves treating things as worth more than people.
That becomes a problem.
Think about it in terms of ministry. There are great music ministries that have no sound system. There are great youth ministry programs that have no budget, no meeting area, and no technology to speak of. Christ did not use Power Point with the Beatitudes.
Do we really trust that Christ will provide what we need? Not what we want, but what we need? Are we willing to allow ourselves to be filled with spiritual goods before we decide to fill ourselves with material goods?
It is said that you should never go grocery shopping when you are hungry because you will end up buying things that you don't need. If that is the case then we should never go shopping when we are spiritually hungry. We need to recognize that our need for material goods is really a need for God. When we recognize that then we will go for the spiritual food that fills the soul.
This is why the vow of poverty is so important to the religious vocation. It allows the religious to pursue Christ without worrying about "making it." Too often we think that Christ wants us to be wealthy and rich so that we can do good with all that we have.
The truth is far different.
Christ at no point preached security.
Never ever.
Anyone who tells you different is selling you something. (Thanks "Princess Bride!")
I know what I am talking about here. When I started this process a year ago, I was criticized at my job because when you tell people that you only want to be a saint, that you only want them to be a saint, that there is such a thing as spiritual warfare, they get nervous. When people give you a paycheck and you admit that you don't care about material goods, how do they control you?
I'm not endorsing that you go in and quit your job or start eating locusts and wild honey at your desk. We do need to ask ourselves who or what controls our lives. In the end, they control our path because at a certain point we become a slave. We are supposed to be free of all that.
In the end, the rejection of greed is about freedom. Real, true, honest to goodness freedom. The problem is that for most of us we don't know that we are a slave to material things.
Maybe that is part of the journey to freedom. Recognizing the slavery so we can ask God to free us.
That is why tithing is so important. It isn't simply an excercise so that we can pay the bills on the parish. Tithing just ten percent (five to your Church and five to a charity or charities) allows us to recognize that God is in control of even our finances. That can become scary, especially when our finances are tight and that ten percent is really taking a bite out of some luxuries that we have become accustomed to in our lives.
Yet perhaps it is those luxuries that are keeping us from being free.
Questions for Reflection:
- In what areas to do you consider yourself materialistic? What material goods could you not live without?
- In what areas in your life have you "compromised" in order for a certain amount of financial security? What would happen if you refused to compromise?
- If you had to fast from one material addiction for the day, what would it be and why?
- What does it mean to be completely free to choose God? Do you consider yourself completely free? What if God was to ask you to give up your financial security?
- Do you tithe? (5% to your parish and 5% to a charity) Why do you contribute where you do? Why do you not tithe if you do not?
- Go through one closet or one storage box and give away anything that you have not used in the last year. It doesn't matter what it cost originally. Clothes, technology, just any type of stuff.
- Find someone to give something to that you don't use any more. It could be baby toys to a couple that is having a baby, it could be a book to a friend. Be willing to practice charity with your material goods.
- Evaluate your tithing. If you are not giving 10%, increase your giving by giving one percent more to your local Church and one percent of your income to a local charity. Make it anonymous. If it stings, pray for the ability to be freed from material goods.
- Write down each time you are tempted to buy something. Imagine that someone is offering you money for the price of the item to "not" buy it. If you would take the money instead of the item, either don't buy the item or give the money to someone who needs it.
- Look for opportunities to be generous throughout the week. Give yourself the opportunity to be generous with your material goods. Let God show you what you should do. Look for opportunities to enjoy things that are free or do not build an addiction to material things.
Go to Mass or read the readings for the day.
Prayer of St. Francis: (to be said in the morning)
- Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
- where there is hatred, let me sow love;
- where there is injury, pardon;
- where there is doubt, faith;
- where there is despair, hope;
- where there is darkness, light;
- and where there is sadness, joy.
- O Divine Master,
- grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
- to be understood, as to understand;
- to be loved, as to love;
- for it is in giving that we receive,
- it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
- and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
- Amen.
