Greed and Generosity

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Today we continue our examination of conscience on the deadly sin of Avarice or Greed.

Greed is the least confessed sin. And it’s funny, no one thinks they suffer from greed because everyone suffers from greed. Greed is not the desire to be wealthy and you are not greedy just by being wealthy, St. Louis was King of France and very wealthy, but not greedy. Greed is the excessive preoccupation with money and the things money affords or the undue worry over not having enough money. Therefore, you can be rich or poor and suffer from greed since it is a preoccupation with money or the lack thereof.

How do we measure our level of greed? By our anger or worry over financial or material things. We get envious or angry when someone has more money than we do or when they make more than us or they have nicer stuff than we have. We get angry at how much stuff costs. We get angry when our stuffs breaks or when what we want is not available.

Greed also shows its ugly face when we have Fear and Anxiety about our financial future.

·       Kids are worried about whether they will get a good job – and a good job is about how much money we make.

·       Parents we are worried about how we are going to get our kids through school and financially independent for their sake and for our sake

·       Retired people are worried they will outlive their money

Jesus said, “I am telling you not to worry about your life and what you are to eat, nor about your body and how you are to clothe it. Surely life means more than food, and the body more than clothing! Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are we not worth much more than they are?”

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The virtue of poverty conquers greed. Poverty does not mean that we all need to be financially poor. St Francis De Sales, in the  Introduction to the Devout Life, gives four principles to avoid a preoccupation with money.

First, take care of what you have because it is not yours, it ultimately belongs to God. Furthermore, increase your wealth if the opportunity arises: DeSales says:

Be more concerned than unbelievers to put your possessions to better use and make them more fruitful. Are not gardeners of kings attentive and more diligent about cultivating and making beautiful the gardens in their charge than they are of their own? Why? Because they appreciate the fact that these gardens belong to the king, whom they wish to please. Our possessions are not our own; God has given them to us to cultivate and he wishes us to render them fruitful and useful by taking care of them. It is essential that we take more earnest care of our possessions than unbelievers do because we are working for God’s love, they are working only for love of themselves…Let us therefore be diligent in our care for our earthly goods, even to increase them if some legitimate opportunity arises and our situation calls for it.

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Second - Detach yourself from some portion of what you possess by being generous and giving to those in need.

De Sales writes: But be careful that self-love does not deceive you; sometimes it counterfeits the love of God so well that we can easily be fooled by it. To prevent this from happening and to prevent the care of earthly goods from becoming greed, it is essential that you frequently practice real poverty while possessing the riches that God has given you. Always detach yourself from some portion of what you possess by giving it willingly to the poor. To give is to impoverish self by that amount.

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Third, Seek the company of the poor and serve them.

Again De Sales writes, “I cannot admire enough the ardor with which St. Louis practiced this counsel. He frequently waited on the table of the poor and invited them to his own table. Sometimes he even ate the leftovers from their meals with an incomparable love. When he visited hospitals, he habitually went to those who had the most horrible illnesses: the ulcerated, the leprous…He took care of them…venerating in their person the Savior of the world.

In our age, most people have everything they need materially. What we lack and what very few people have is a small group of family and friends with whom they share life regularly and share their faith.

Most importantly we are supposed to enrich one another with our time and our virtues.

It seems the thing we are most greedy about is our time. We maximize our time to the point that we are exhausted and we have no time for family and friends.

Be generous with your life. If you want to do the greatest good for souls and the world. Don’t sell your possessions – use them to foster friendship, good conversation and the Rosary.

The best thing you can do is invite people to your house to share a meal, good conversation and the Rosary.

Begin with your own family and do it regularly.

Then gather your team – a small group of family and friends you invite over habitually, once a week or once a month.

Then expand it out and invite people you don’t know that well.

I was blown away last night. A professional dad who owns his own business and has four little kids has been inviting their neighbors over for meals and conversation. Last night, the neighbor dad, who is not Catholic, came to supper and when the first dad asked them to join them in the family Rosary – he did so happily.

God gave us these big homes with lots of food and drink so that we would leverage them for building His kingdom in other souls. So let’s fill them with souls. Build your team and expand by invitation.

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Finally, Everyone occasionally lacks something. Take these occasions to practice the virtue of poverty: be at ease, accept them willingly, and endure them cheerfully.

Once again St. Francis De Sales writes: When certain trials occur which impoverish you a little or a great deal such a storms, fires, floods, poor crops, thefts, lawsuits…remember - that is the right time to practice poverty and accept this impoverishment with serenity and patience. When our wealth is rooted in our heart and a storm or thief takes away a part of it, what complaints, what trouble, what impatience! But when we give these things only the care that God wants us to have for them, and we then lose them, we do not for all that lose our heads or our peace.