Main news for 3 January 2009

Are wealth and piety really so incompatible? Have we not met good, generous, and at the same time wealthy Christians? Have we not met criminals made savage by poverty? Perhaps the key words here are "serve," "love," and "be devoted." What rules in our heart? What or whom do we serve? Wealth - and what wealth do we have here! - money in general: is it a goal for us or a means? If it is a goal, then we need to be treated for kleptomania, not think that everything is in order with us. And if it is a means, then a means for what? Money brings new possibilities into our life, and not all these possibilities are useful for our soul. We can direct this money toward acquiring power over other people (the most frightening narcotic is power!), toward varied self-indulgence (food, sex, comfort, travel, and so on), toward calming our conscience (almsgiving, charity), in one way or another toward ourselves. How money can become for us a way of serving God (and not at the same time become self-justification) is probably the question each of us must resolve in his relations with God. Two cannot sit on the throne at once...