I’ve been contemplating a good answer for a few minutes, but a question occurred to me: Did you acquire some money as a gift?
How you acquire money and riches is a bit different than discussing the nature and origin of money itself.
If you won the megamillions this week, I’d say it was just good fortune; but, if you inherited it from a loved one, then they may have blessed you in their will; but, if you found it covered in a sack with red ink all over it from a bank robbery, it certainly would not have come from God.
On the other hand, if you are simply asking about the origins of money, I’d probably say “no, money is an all too human convention”. It’s usually governed by human (not Divine) law; and, economically, it usually derives it’s value from human opinion.
By “riches” you probably mean “assets”, or (more abstractly) “consideration”; Assets are what “underlie” or “serve as basis” for a monetary value; and, there are various ways one could acquire and value assets.
If you want to find God’s freely given providence in an economic system, you probably want to look at the asset and consideration first; and, then, you will want to discern how the asset is acquired, secured and valued.
It’s rather interesting because - God created the world from nothing, so how to create something (money and assets) from nothing (you, me, other people, etc) is a question I have spent a long time studying (in an effort to get my CPA).
The biggest obstacle humans have with money is how it is valued.
Faith drives economic systems, but issues such as fear, greed, lust, power and so on - also drive people to ascribe delusional values to money, which is beyond all sadness. Some people hold themselves in too high a sense of esteem; while they see others as worthless; some people think money can buy them whatever they want in life; some people think money makes them feel secure; and so on. All this does is create another man-made problem called “risk” which gives rise to all sorts of fearful lies.
Catholicism certainly has a much different set of values. We believe in charity. Ora et Labora is a great mantra. The emphasis isnt on money, but properly and honestly valuing the assets and underlying work effort. Through faith we can be certain in an uncertain world. We can even for-give one another our nothingness and worthlessness (tax free).
In the Catholic sense - its possible to create something from nothing; I dont say its easy, but here’s how it would work.
Assume you’re nothing. Say a prayer. Work at it. Trying to form whatever you intend. Christ Himself is everything - so let Christ guide the way in all you do. When the form is done - you have an asset, which is quite literally a gift from God. You now have something which you can redeem. If you want to make some money, put a price tag on it and advertise; and, if someone buys it in good faith - you have made some money that originally came from God.
But I wouldn’t think of money as the desirable component. Ora et Labora is the good part. The journey, not the destination, is what counts. Anything else is either a blessing from a loved one, luck, or (at worst) of the devil…
