Dirty and unshared money
The story is told about a preacher who, while explaining death and resurrection during a funeral Mass, pointed to the coffin and remarked: “What we have here before us is only the shell—the nut is gone.”
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In today’s gospel (Lk.12, 13-21), Jesus speaks about some other kind of nuts—those who are nuts for money, fools who think they are secure because of their material possessions. The greatest tragedy is when we come to life’s end and we realize that all we have worked for add up to nothing, and the material we have been preparing will not even come out in the final exams.
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Someone once said that money is like a snake. It is harmless if you know how to take hold of it, but if not, it will entwine your arm and bite you. How many people have been suffocated and bitten by money? How many people are already dead in their character and soul because of their greed and love for money, even before they physically die?
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I once gave the Anointing of the Sick to a very rich man. He had three nurses attending to him in his hospital suite. As I was praying over him, he was pleading: “Father Orbos, please heal me. Anything you want I will give you. Please heal me!” To this very day, I can never forget the desperate look in his eyes. What is sad is that till the very end, he was still relying on the power of his money instead of relying on the mercy of God.
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Minus your money, who are you, what are you? I remember the story about an ugly person who ridiculed a guy who was drunk. The drunk said: “You know what? Tomorrow morning when I wake up, I am no longer drunk. But you, tomorrow morning when you wake up, you are still ugly!”
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What is the bottom line? Tomorrow morning when you wake up, and all your money is gone, what are you? Your worth is not what you have, but who you are and what you have done for others. Indeed, it’s not what we carry in our hands but what we carry in our hearts that really matters in the end.
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For those who are so focused and passionate on money, ask yourself these questions: What for? For whom? Why the hurry, and why the worry? Is it worth it all? Please reflect on this: Life is so tragic for the person who has plenty to live on, but nothing to live for.
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A text message I received, says: “Funny how people these days spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like.” It’s not funny. It is sad actually that what matters most now for many people is money, and money-matters. People think and talk most about the easy and the successful life, and hardly about the meaningful and significant life.
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Before you sleep tonight, try kneeling down before your God. The act of kneeling down is a beautiful gesture of humility, and when you are humble before God, you realize that all you have, all your “achievements” come from God, and can be gone in one flick of a finger. In fact, even your very life can end tonight. Should that happen, what are you, who are you, and where will you end up? I’m not scaring you. It’s today’s gospel message: “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?” Indeed, what for? For whom?
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Use your money for your salvation, not for your condemnation. We will be judged not by whether we are rich or poor, but by how we acquired and by how we spent our money. The money you have, is it “dirty” money, i.e., was somebody cheated, or hurt in the process of your acquiring it? The money you have, is it “fat” money, i.e., is it just sleeping and gaining weight and not put to good use for others and for God?
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You may be telling me now: “Father Orbos, you have no business asking me about my money, and what I do with my money, because I earned it, and it is my money!” OK. If you say so. But, is it really? Really just YOUR money?
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Very little is needed in life to be happy. However, very much is needed, in fact, there’s no limit, when we talk about our desires in life. Some have already more than enough, in fact already too much, but continue to amass more and more, and their greed never ends. Try drinking sea water: the more you drink it, the more you become thirsty.
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Talking about exit, do you have any exit plan? Death is sure for us all, but the where, when or how is uncertain. May we have little regrets that we loved too little too late when we exit from this world.
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A moment with the Lord:
Lord, deliver us from dirty and unshared money. Amen.
