I think money gets a bad wrap in today’s Gospel. Money if used with good intent is part of the chips to get us through life. In our Gospel of Luke 8 today Jesus talks about our real focus of our life which should be building the Kingdom of God which is all around us.
How can we use money to help ourselves rather than prevent us from entering the Kingdom of God?
Recently I read an interview with an Native American Priest from Michigan, Father Maurice Henry Sands in a Catholic publication called “Columbia”, which said, “The sharing of our diverse cultures and traditions with one another enriches the Church. We Native Americans bring to the rest of the Church the value of respect – respect for God, for life,for one another for elders, for nature and tradition – as well as a rich and profound understanding of the importance of family like.”
The operative word was respect. Money, wealth and possessions are not inherently evil but as I said earlier they if used correctly are just chips or tokens to get us through life. More importantly, our time, talent and treasures are tools for our family, the world around us and the earth in which we live to improve the human experience and build the Kingdom of God in everything we do.
Nothing we have on earth is permanent. Our human relations, our cars, our professional success, fame and glory are only momentary.
Saint Paul suggests in 1 Timothy 6 , “For we brought nothing into the world, just as we shall not be able to take anything out of it. If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction.”
The message I see here is to not let our money or possessions rule us. Father Sands spoke of respect for things of real value. Our major focus should be to build the Kingdom of God in the world around us. Everything else will fall into place if we have respect for money and not have the accumulation of wealth as our only focus. Jesus says it is the root of all evil but its misuse is where evil comes.
Every time I read this scripture I have to reexamine my own attitude towards money. Is money my god? I always answer, no, but how do I act? It is something that I pray about. My prayer it that God will open my eyes to respect money as a tool and focus on our real goal which is the Kingdom of God.
God Bless
Bob Burford
