Greed
One
The Good of Money and the Threat of Avarice
We are meditating on the fifth deadly sin, 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 for the love of God and neighbor.
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, or our kids’ weddings, or our own retirements. And we definitely worry we will outlive our money and to whom and how we will give our money after we are dead.
The point is we often act like money is the most important thing in our lives. 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. 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, 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 to give 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 our money represents us. And we want to give ourselves to Jesus. And Jesus has identified himself with the Church and the poor, so when we give to them we give to Him.
Some people don’t want to give to the Church or to the poor because they say they waste the money or use it for bad purposes. In the book of Leviticus, when the people brought sacrificial offerings to the priests, the priests either burned the sacrifice or ate them themselves. The first reason we give to the Church and the poor is not to maximize our investment with the best return. 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 Him.
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%? Give your first fruits to God, the first 10%. Give yourself the leftovers, not the other way around!
Suggested Resolutions:
Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you.
Take the time to assess what you can give to the Church and to the poor.
If you feel like almsgiving is impossible, set aside the time to make a list of your expenses and consider what purchases might not be necessary.
Spend time this week reflecting on where you find your worth and how often you try to place your trust in your finances.