Salesian Perspective on Today's Readings

In today's "Sundays Salesian." a Salesian perspective on the Sunday Readings, Rev. Michael S. Murray, OSFS, Executive Director of the De Sales Spirituality Center (a ministry of the Wilmington-Philadelphia Province of the Oblates of St. Francis de Sales), writes:

"What profit comes to a person from all the toil and anxiety of heart with which one labored under the sun?" (Ecclesiastes 1:3)

"One may be wealthy, but one's possessions do not guarantee one life." (Luke 12:15)

Salesian Perspective

Is wealth an obstacle to living a righteous life? Do possessions prevent us from living a righteous life? Must we choose between the things that are of earth and the things that are of heaven?

Indeed, riches may be a temptation to forsake a God-centered life precisely because they may distract us from pursuing the things that really matter in life: the things that will last forever. However, the root of the problem may not be the wealth - the possessions - the success - themselves, but rather, inordinate anxiety and concern about them.

I took two courses in Economics when I was in college. Sadly, I don't remember much about that year-long excursion other than that there is a striking similarity found between the folks at the extreme ends of the income scale.

The poorest of the poor and the richest of the rich live in fear of losing what they have.

Anxiety about the accumulation and preservation of wealth ultimately prevents us from truly enjoying our blessings and successes in life. As today's Scriptures point out, anxiety about holding on to how much (or even, how little) we possess can lead to tragic consequences.

Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life: "There is a difference between possessing poison and being poisoned. Pharmacists keep almost every kind of poison in stock for use on various occasions, yet they are not themselves poisoned because it is merely in their shops, not in their bodies. So, too, you can possess riches without being poisoned by them if you keep them in your home, purse or wallet, but not in your heart." Part III, Chapter 14)

The man in the Gospel parable is not condemned because he had filled his barn with riches: he is condemned because he had allowed his heart to be consumed by riches. So consumed, in fact, that when he was considering how to dispose of his excessive good fortune, it never occurred to him that he might share it with others.

A word to the wealthy...and the wise: the best remedy for being consumed with riches is to practice the virtue of generosity. After all, how can you be anxious about losing what you have if you are already too busy sharing it with - even giving it away to - others?

Therein lies the secret of true wealth . . . in the eyes of God, wealth that truly - and forever - enriches. What makes me rich is not a measure of what I possess: it is an expression of what I am willing to share.