Do I have a sinful amount of riches? Am i being called to rid myself of them?

[Denise1957]

Thank you. I tried explaining to a young man once what happens when you choose this kind of simplicity. eg if you have ice cream every day, you take it for granted. If you only eat it maybe once a week, then it becomes a true delight… if you have cake with icing every day, same… if you eat only plain cake and with icing (frosting) on rare special occasion, it delights. This is what I find, that the smallest things become a total joy and so valued. All too luxurious for me! Yesterday I gathered the first " crop" from my small garden, curly kale and such a pleasure on Sunday…Never ever do I feel deprived.

You are fortunate to be able to live a simple life.

 

[PaulinVA]

When our needs are met, there is an opportunity to help other people.

Yes, nice things are, well, nice. But, when you hear the Lord telling you to start to be more generous with your riches, it’s time to be more generous with your riches.

It might jump start your efforts to sell a watch or two and give the money to the Jamaica project.

 

[moonlight87]

I also have been in similair situations. Perhaps the first question you should ask yourself is: is the Lord calling me to detach? to die to myself when it comes to material good I am attached to? Someone adviced to read Luke. Have you considered going on a spiritual retreat (Ignatian for example) and submit the question you are asking to the Lord? Let the Lord speak in the depths of your heart!

 

[Techno2000]

First off, I hope no one takes this post as bragging, but I do not believe in false modesty. I have had the luxury of being brought up by two amazing parents, who sacrificed their free-time and happiness to slave over my studies with me all through junior high and high school, and ensured that I prioritized excellence in school and performing every task to the utmost of my ability, I credit them for my success.

I am in a position where I earn a lot of money for my work. I have used this money to allow my wife to stay at home from work with our daughter, to buy us a nice (not opulent) home, two fairly nice (but not high luxury) cars, and most of the other trappings that come with a low-upper class suburban lifestyle.

I don’t think any of the above things are necessarily bad, BUT I do also own several multi-thousand dollar watches, multiple several hundred dollar pairs of alligator boots, and other such ultra-luxuries.

I consider myself to have a well formed conscience, but this all changed when we had a Msgr come give a homily during mass last Sunday. He is in charge of missionary work in Jamaica which helps build homes for families, feed them, and educate them to break the cycle of poverty. He said that for $2500 he can build a dream house for a Jamaican family of 4 (it looked like a tiny wooden shack, but clean, so a dream house for a family in poverty) and that he can feed a family of 4, for a year, on $100.

How can I own 3-4 Jamaican dream houses as wrist wear, or wear the equivalent of 12 years of food for a needy family on my feet? How could I have been so blind? I know that objects aren’t good or bad, but was my purchase and usage of them evil? I hope not as it wasn’t intended to be evil (which is a major component of morality) but it certainly wasn’t a good thing.

Should I merely refrain from buying such luxuries in the future and donate more to charity? Or sell all of these things, donate the proceeds to charity, and donate more to charity in the future?

God Bless Everyone,

PRAY FOR POPE FRANCIS!

The Rich Young Man

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

 

[3DOCTORS]

I’ll chime in - because I’m struggling right now with poverty less than a couple decades from retirement age. This was decades in the making, and was in large part due to my parents and my own poor financial decisions. I grew up middle-middle class, but my parents got hooked on credit cards and later I did the same; to make matters worse I got entangled with student loans. I declared bankruptcy some years ago, was forced to move out of the house my parents built before I was born, due to foreclosure. I finally got some sense and started embracing the concepts of budgeting and cutting down on spending.

Since that time, I’ve had more money drains - it seems I’m doing my Purgatory on Earth for my past financial and materialism sins. I’m staying with a dear friend who took me in or I would be homeless. Yesterday when I looked at my bank balance I thought maybe this would be the month I’d start to catch up. It won’t be. Maybe August! Please, Lord!

But as Rosebud77 points out, learning to appreciate the little things is a blessing. I’ve decided to declutter and detach from material things a lot more than I ever dreamed I would. I pray the Lord might “restore the years the locusts have eaten” (Joel 2:25) if He decides I’ve learned and suffered enough. I also know my situation is not near as dire as those of a huge portion of the world. But I just present it here to point out how I had that middle class taken for granted type of life and how it can go away. And to commend the OP for being willing to take on an examination of conscience regarding stewardship of this world’s treasure. God bless you, OP!

 

[mathematoons]

This excerpt from The Art of Dying Well by St. Robert Bellarmine might help:

Lastly, It is necessary above all things, if we wish to be saved and to die a good death, diligently to enquire, either by our own reading and meditation, or by consulting holy and learned men, whether our “superfluous” riches can be retained with out sin, or whether we ought of necessity to give them to the poor; and again, what are to be understood by superfluities, and what by necessary goods. It may happen that to some men moderate riches may be superfluous; whilst to others great riches may be absolutely essential.

But, since this treatise does not include nor require tedious scholastic questions, I will briefly note passages from Holy Writ and the Fathers, and so end this part of the subject. The passages of Scripture: “You cannot serve both God and mammon.” “He that hath two coats, let him give to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do in like manner.” And in the 12th chapter of St. Luke it is said of one who had such great riches, that he scarcely knew what to do with them: “Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee.” St. Augustine, in the 50th book of his Homilies, and the 7th Homily, explains these words to mean, that the rich man perished for ever, because he made no use of his superfluous riches.

The passages from the Fathers are chiefly these:

St. Basil, in his Sermon to the Rich, thus speaks: “And thou, art thou not a robber, because what thou hast received to be given away, thou supposest to be thy own?” And a little farther he continues: “Wherefore, as much as thou art able to give, so much dost thou injure the poor.”

And St. Ambrose, in his 81st Sermon, says: “What injustice do I commit, if, whilst I do not steal the goods of others, I keep diligently what is my own? impudent word! Dost thou say thy own? What is this? It is no less a crime to steal than it is not to give to the poor out of thy abundance.”

St. Jerome thus writes in his Epistle to Hedibias: “If you possess more than is necessary for your subsistence, give it away, and thus you will be a creditor.”

St. John Chrysostom says in his 34th Homily to the people of Antioch: “Do you possess anything of your own? The interest of the poor is entrusted to you, whether the estate is yours by your own just labours, or you have acquired it by inheritance.”

St. Augustine, in his Tract on the 147th Psalm: “Our superfluous wealth belongs to the poor; when it is not given to them, we possess what we have no right to retain.” St. Leo thus speaks: “Temporal goods are given to us by the liberality of God, and He will demand an account of them, for they were committed to us for disposal as well as possession.”

And St. Gregory, in the third part of his Pastoral Care: “Those are to be admonished, who, whilst they desire not the goods of others, do not distribute their own; that so they may carefully remember, that as the common origin of all men is from the earth, so also its produce is common to them all: in vain, then, they think themselves innocent, who appropriate to themselves the common gifts of God.”

St. Bernard, in his Epistle to Henry, archbishop of Sens, saith: “It is ours, for the poor cry out for what you squander; you cruelly take away from us what you spend foolishly.”

St. Thomas also writes: “The superfluous riches which many possess, by the natural law belong to the support of the poor”; and again: “The Lord requires us to give to the poor not only the tenth part, but all of our superfluous wealth.” In fine, the same author, in the fourth book of his “Sentences,” asserts that this is the common opinion of all theologians.

For myself, I learned this the hard way when I moved a few months ago. Apparently my old place had a serious mold problem, so a lot had to be dumped. I now have fewer possessions than ever: Catholic books (2 shelves), clothes, computer, mobile devices, furniture (and appliances, etc.), piano, guitar, sheet music, dog stuff, bed stuff, and a few selected keepsakes. I don’t miss all the stuff I left behind. I hated the idea of leaving it, but I didn’t need it. Had I given it away instead of hoarding, I would have treasure in Heaven (Matthew 19:21). Instead, I had to pay hundreds of dollars to have someone haul away junk that cost thousands over the years. Having learned this lesson, I gave away more stuff.

 

[moonlight87]

I would like to shed some light on the question whether you should give more to the poor or should have given the money you spend on your boots to them. I don’t know the answer but maybe we should change the way we look at the poor.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Before Christ said this, the poor were just poor, and the naked were just naked. But after Christ said this, Christ in a mystical way became present in them.
The poor are now almost like walking tabernacles. St. Martin understood this truth, when he gave half of his Cape to a poor man and then received a dream in which Christ showed him how He gave half of the cape to Him.
You can read very interesting things about this in a book written by venerable father Aloysius Schwartz, ¨to live is Christ¨.
Like mother Teresa said, we will be judged on our love for our neighbor and so our own salvation depends very much on them.

 

[MtnDwellar]

Everyone is called to give.
Some are called to give until they have nothing left.

 

[ethereality]

How can I own 3-4 Jamaican dream houses as wrist wear, or wear the equivalent of 12 years of food for a needy family on my feet?

Because, as Pope Francis points out in “Laudato Si”, there is an unjust distribution of wealth (and food) between nations.

How could I have been so blind?

Presumably because you grew up in an evil country, e.g. the United States, that teaches selfishness and self-gratification as normal and good.

I know that objects aren’t good or bad, but was my purchase and usage of them evil?

Yes, although culpability is (we’re told) mitigated by ignorance – but now you know.

Should I merely refrain from buying such luxuries in the future and donate more to charity? Or sell all of these things, donate the proceeds to charity, and donate more to charity in the future?

I think Blessed Teresa of Calcutta correctly summarized the Christian position here: “Give until it hurts.” This means minimizing what you own, e.g. selling those thousand-dollar watches and get instead one of those eco battery-free watches (e.g. powered by light). Likewise regarding thousand-dollar boots, there’s a quotation from a saint something like, “Clothing is to keep warm in winter and cover your nakedness, not to serve your vanity.” Jesus plainly teaches to store treasure in heaven, not here on earth, and the Church plainly teaches that the coat in your closet that you don’t need belongs to the poor.

It sounds like you know what to do. (Btw, if you’re looking to help a poor American, I could use your money! )

 

[BigRedpg51]

Should I merely refrain from buying such luxuries in the future and donate more to charity? Or sell all of these things, donate the proceeds to charity, and donate more to charity in the future?

I guess I was in a similar circumstance as you, in 1989-1990, when Our Lord called me to join the Pro-Life movement. I was an engineer, making a very good living, giving away more to charities than I was keeping for myself.

Then, I went on a “Right to Life” march down in Washington, DC with a church group from the local parish. When I saw the posters of aborted babies – I couldn’t believe my eyes! “They really do that to babies?” I said to the person standing next to me. “Yes…that’s why we’re here…to stop that from happening.”

At that moment God touched me in a very discernible way. In the months to come I found myself going on abortion ‘rescues’ to help shut down abortion mills for the day, and when they were putting together an American team to go to Europe and help them to learn to do rescues “American-Style” I sold everything I owned in order to buy a plane ticket and bring the required $1200 (sustenance money for the summer campaign) for my 3-month commitment.

At the end of 3 months I returned to the USA – penniless. I tried to get back into the engineering field, but none of the job interviews were fruitful for me. So I worked at a temp agency for 3 years – but in that time God was slowly teaching me that He would always take care of me, no matter what. It was extremely hard trusting in God, at first. I had been a good manufacturing engineer, and then a quality assurance engineer. I had always researched my next move carefully before moving forward. That’s what a good engineer does. But now, God was asking me to trust Him…not knowing where the next temp assignment was going to be, or how long it would last. There were days when I barely had $0.50 to buy a couple of bagels to eat.

After the 3rd year, I managed to secure a permanent job as an office manager across the street. Then, by mechanations too lengthy and complex to mention here, God dumped $2,000,000 in my lap – against my will.

I used this money to help out some people in need, and most of it went into purchasing a home that would be used for traveling Catholic priests (who needed a place to stay while awaiting assignment to one parish or another). Over the 16 years that I helped run that home we were able to accommodate at least 75 priests.

So, should you give up all your riches and follow Jesus? Or, if it’s too difficult for you to do that, should you just refrain from buying more luxuries for yourself and your family?

God will lead you. He will touch your heart – as He did mine. That talk from the missionary priest was just the first “touch”. As long as you are ‘open’ to being touched by God…He will continue to lead you.

I can promise you this, however. It’s true. When we give up everything for Jesus – He does replenish it a 100 fold…and more. And not only hear on earth…but in Heaven too!

I hope this little testimony helps you a bit. God bless you!

 

[3DOCTORS]

This excerpt from The Art of Dying Well by St. Robert Bellarmine might help:

For myself, I learned this the hard way when I moved a few months ago. Apparently my old place had a serious mold problem, so a lot had to be dumped. I now have fewer possessions than ever: Catholic books (2 shelves), clothes, computer, mobile devices, furniture (and appliances, etc.), piano, guitar, sheet music, dog stuff, bed stuff, and a few selected keepsakes. I don’t miss all the stuff I left behind. I hated the idea of leaving it, but I didn’t need it. Had I given it away instead of hoarding, I would have treasure in Heaven (Matthew 19:21). Instead, I had to pay hundreds of dollars to have someone haul away junk that cost thousands over the years. Having learned this lesson, I gave away more stuff.

Good for you! I’m going through the downsizing thing and for the first time in my life it feels exciting and positive instead of a horrible deprivation. I’m in that "Why did I think I needed all this stuff?!" phase. Even though I won’t have a place of my own for awhile, I’m brainstorming simple, efficient ways of living with less stuff, cozy-minimalist decorating that’s cheerful but uncluttered, and so on.

 

[Norm_The_Robot]

OP, If you are feeling guilty about all your money and need to unload a few bucks in a hurry I can send you my address! I have the opposite problem . . . I feel guilty that I don’t make enough money to pay my rent on time and that my power/water is about to get cut off in the middle of a 100 degree summer while my kids are home all day during summer vacation!

Be glad to have what you have because I would be grateful to have the problem you are having!!!

 

[abinjoy]

I don’t think any of the above things are necessarily bad, BUT I do also own several multi-thousand dollar watches, multiple several hundred dollar pairs of alligator boots, and other such ultra-luxuries.

If you have 7 multi-thousand dollar watches, sell one ASAP and donate the money to charity or some poor. After a while, you may understand 6 watches are a luxury. At that stage sell one again and eventually you may have only 1 or 2 or even none.

 

[Gliggle]

John the baptist has the answer:

Luke 3:11
John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”

 

[Robert_Sock]

I think it all comes down to your values. If you are money-minded, yes, that’s a problem, but if you value religious virtues far, far above the money, then you are likely to be righteous, and your money will have no power over you.

 

[Monica4316]

Personally I believe we should use money on essentials, of course provide for family if you have one, but not buy luxuries. Think of the Holy Family they only had what they needed, and gave away the rest. If you have been blessed in this way, maybe you could use it to help others, and in helping the needy you would be consoling Our Lord who suffers mystically in His Church and the poor God bless you!