OF MONEY AND CHOICES

 

OF MONEY AND CHOICES

 

If yesterday’s Gospel surprised and confused us, today’s passage shocks. Did we  read correctly? “Use money,” Jesus says, “tainted as it is, to win your friends.”  Does this not contradict the next words of Jesus, “No servant can serve two  masters . . . You cannot serve both God and money”?  

Money is important. How people work for money! But when it comes  to faith and religion, very few Christians are willing to devote to it the same  dedication or effort. How sad Jesus must have been when He said what we  read yesterday: “The children of this world are more astute in dealing with their  own kind than the children of light.” 

 

Jesus is critical of money, not because it is an evil thing but because it  easily becomes the ultimate goal instead of an instrument. But He is also very  realistic when He suggests to make use of money. Saint Theresa of Avila said,  “Money is an excrement of the devil but a good fertilizer.” It all depends on  our attitude toward money. Does it become the sole goal in life and so replaces  God? Or do we use it for the growth of the Kingdom of God, for others who  are in need? Somebody wrote, “The rich help the poor in the world, the poor  help the rich in the world to come.” 

 

The warning not to serve two masters may seem, at first sight, exaggerated.  All of us know wealthy Christians who live simple lives and share their wealth.  We can use money while serving God. But if we serve money as a god, then  we become idolaters. The greed makes us more and more unscrupulous about  how we get it. Greed makes us slaves and erases all that is good and holy in us.  Serving God is also something that affects our whole being. It can never be a  part-time job. In view of eternal life at stake, it should not be so difficult to  choose the right master and make the right choices. And once we have chosen  God, we must be ready to acknowledge that God is the most exclusive of all  masters. We belong to Him totally—or not at all. Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 

When do you feel the danger to serve money more than God? Are you as  dedicated to the service of God as you are to worldly things? 

 

Lord, I feel the struggle between You and money inside of me. Keep me aware of the danger of  serving material things instead of using them for Your Kingdom. Amen. 

 

Today, I pray for: __________________________________________________________