Almsgiving Conquers Greed

One

The Good of Money and the Threat of Avarice

We’re meditating on the 9th and 10th Commandments which help us not ruin our lives by pride, lust, and greed. Yesterday, we reflected on the way fasting overcomes lust. Today the way generosity and almsgiving conquer greed.

Greed is the disordered love of money and the stuff you can get with money.

So what is its antidote? 

Very clearly, the best practice you can do to counteract greed is to give alms. It’s to donate money to something from supernatural motivations.

Two

Preoccupation with Money and Stuff

Most people don’t think they’re greedy. Most people would say they don’t have a disordered love of money, or of stuff. But actually, if push came to shove, they’d probably admit that they are often preoccupied with money or physical stuff. And what you’re preoccupied with actually shows what you love, what you care about, because being preoccupied means you spend a lot of time thinking about something. And our culture is super-preoccupied with money. 

We think of money as the measure of our success.

Money is how most people think of their whole education because they think of education as preparation for finding a good career, which is code for a job that pays enough money.

We’re preoccupied with our car payments, our mortgage payments, our medical payments, our home renovation payments. We want to be sure we’ll have enough money for our kids’ schools, our kids’ weddings, or our own retirements. And we definitely worry we will outlive our money and to whom and how will give our money after we are dead.

Many of us vote based primarily on “the economy,” which means how much we have to pay in taxes, how expensive gas is, or what the rate of inflation is. That means that many of us act as though the biggest issue facing our nation is: money. Not immorality, or godlessness – but money.

The point is we often act like money is the most important thing in our lives, individually and corporately. Maybe that’s why Christ explicitly reminded us that we can’t serve both God and money.

So what can we do to show that we do, actually, value God more than money?

Three

Do something to show that you Don’t actually need more money

Our most fundamental problems never stem from not having enough money. And the truth is, most of us actually don’t need more money. We need more God. So God has given us an opportunity to show that, as a matter of fact, we don’t need more money. 

Everybody thinks they do. Everybody talks like they do. They say, “We’re barely making it here. We’re just hand to mouth, right on the edge.” But really, that’s not true. Almost nobody who says that is actually malnourished or homeless.

The people in this culture who constantly complain about money have four walls and a roof over their heads, they have the internet, and they’re more likely to be overweight than starving. 

So we don’t need more money. And we show that we aren’t slaves to money, that we don’t base our hopes on money, and that the desire for money doesn’t dominate us when we voluntarily give some of our money away.

When we give alms we make it clear that money is not our salvation or our security or our basis for self-satisfaction.

Christ says, “You have to choose: which is more important to you? Me, or money?” And the only way you can actually make that choice in practice is by almsgiving.

And the more generous you are with almsgiving, the more clearly you make the right choice.

Four

Giving to the Church and to the Poor

Almsgiving is where you choose between Christ and money and where you choose rightly.

You choose Christ over money when you give your money to Christ. And how do you give your money to Christ?

Well, there were two groups Christ identified Himself with. He identified Himself with the Church (remember when He said to St. Paul, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”) And He identified Himself with the poor (remember when He said, “Whenever you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it for Me.”)

So give to the Church, and to those organizations who work for the mission of the Church. And give to the poor, and to those organizations who really serve the poor, whether those poor in body or poor in mind.

Free yourself from the yoke and the anxiety of money so that you can be at peace with God, and joyful in the good things He has given to all of us.

Five

The primary reason to give alms is to give yourself to Jesus in return for all He has given to us. 

We miss the whole point when we think the primary reason we give our money is to bring about some good in the Church, the world, or for some people. That is not the primary reason we give our money. We give our money because it represents ourselves which we want to give to Jesus. And as we just said, Jesus has identified himself with the Church and the poor, so when we give them we give to him.  

There are two potential problems with giving to the Church or to the poor. They may waste the money or use it for bad purposes. A poor drunkard or drug addict might use it for their addiction or to continue in their irresponsibility and we fear being an enabler. The same could be said of the Church as we’ve seen with cases of abuse. (However, I can tell you the evil use of money in the Church is far outweighed by the good it does throughout the world.) 

In the book of Leviticus, when the people brought sacrificial offerings to the priests, the priest either burned the sacrifice or ate them themselves.

We don’t give to the poor or the Church because they will be the best stewards of the funds. We give to the poor and the Church because Jesus identifies himself with both and when we give to them we give to Him and if we refuse to give to them then we refuse to give to Jesus. 

According to Scripture, which means according to God we should be giving 10%. A good formula is 4% to your parish, 1% to the Diocese, and 5% to other organizations that take care of the poor.

Are you giving 10%?

Let me suggest a practical resolution. 

We could be tempted to not give to the poor or the Church because we fear they might waste the money. Consider taking the time to assess where you are wasting your money. Go through all the ways you spend money habitually without thinking about it, all the auto-pays, all the subscriptions, and see what is really necessary to live your life and what is just for comfort, pleasure, and entertainment. Honestly examine which things are an absolute need and which are excess. Then cancel some of those that are purely for comfort and pleasure and give that money to the Church, to good organizations that are helping people grow closer to Jesus and give to the poor.