Bishop Robert Morneau

Wealth is in the person of Jesus

August 5, 2001, Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

	Questions for reflection: 1. What do you think are the various forms of greed that Jesus tells us to avoid? 2. In what does spiritual wealth consist? 3. How did St. Paul avoid vanity, greed and an empty life?

Greed (avarice) is one of the seven deadly sins. The other family members are pride, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony and sloth. In our more honest moments, all of us have to deal with each of these in our own unique way.

Jesus warns against greed (an excessive, reprehensible acquisitiveness) in all its forms. For some it is a disordered desire for money and property and possessions; for others, it is an insatiable hunger for knowledge or activity; for still others, greed takes on the form of spiritual longing that fails to integrate other dimensions of life. All of these will lead us down the road of vanity and indeed great misfortune.

St. Paul urges the Colossians and us to put to death those parts of our life that take us away from union with God. He specifically mentions immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed. His call is for repentance and renewal so that Christ may become the center of our lives. It is in this relationship that we find our true wealth and avoid the vanity that leads to depression.

Behind greed there lies a vast emptiness that is part of the human condition. There is a radical indigence, a fundamental poverty that is universal and frightening. Thus we attempt to "fill up," to acquire things and relationships and diplomas which will seem to take away this pervasive poverty. But regardless of how much money there is in the bank, how big the house is, how many trophies on the shelf - we return again and again but no thing can fill us up. Possessions cannot eliminate the sense of vanity.

For St. Paul the true wealth was in the person of Jesus. He did not seek security in the law nor did he concern himself with ritual practices that would define his life. Rather, "Christ is all and in all." He knew Jesus, the poor Jesus, as his savior and Lord. True wealth was to know experientially the love and mercy of the risen Lord.

In The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (edited by Michael Downey, Liturgical Press, 1993) we are given this description of greed: "Avarice (greed) is an insatiable or inordinate longing for the possession of something. In a complex, competitive society, avarice can be especially alluring. It shows itself when trust in God is so fragile that worldly supports are grasped too tightly in order to ensure security for an uncertain future. Love of possessions in themselves or for purely selfish reason leads to self-absorbing preoccupations. Avarice also embraces shame at receiving charity from others and inability to give to others without experiencing self-deprivation. This sin can masquerade as healthy frugality and independence. Progress towards generosity may involve appropriation of a healthy awareness of death's finality, acknowledgement of interdependence and vulnerability, and practice of charitable acts." (250)

The parable in today's Gospel give a healthy awareness that death comes to us all, archbishops and everyone else. Building bigger barns can forestall the inevitable. It is only by putting on the new self, the one that appropriates the heart and mind of Jesus, that we will have the generosity to share what has been given us and to center our lives on values that are everlasting.

The deadly sins gnaw away at us day after day. But grace has been given to us through Jesus and in the Spirit to be poor of spirit and thus inherit the kingdom of God.

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese.)