Solving Money Troubles

28th Sunday OT, year B | Mark 10:17-27

We have all probably heard someone speak about their “money troubles”. This usually refers to the fact that they do not have enough money. In the story of the rich young man that we heard in the Gospel today, Jesus completely inverts our normal understanding of how money can cause trouble in our lives. Instead of too little wealth being an issue, Jesus teaches us that having too much money is the problem.

Jesus explains to his disciples that having too much wealth can be a barrier to entering the kingdom of heaven. “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God”. Jesus’ disciples were “exceedingly astonished” when they heard this teaching. Why? One possible reason is that they thought that having wealth was considered a sign that you have God’s favour. In other words, if you were rich, then you were already in the kingdom of heaven. This idea is conveyed in certain passages in the Old Testament (e.g. Job 1:1). Just like us, the disciples probably thought that not having wealth was the problem. Jesus, however, says that the opposite is true. Having wealth makes it difficult, maybe even impossible, to enter the kingdom of heaven. If we stop and think about it, we can come up with some reasons why this makes a lot of sense. First, when we have many things, then it is too easy to think that we don’t need God. Second, when we have wealth, we tend to want more of it. The pursuit of material possessions can easily make us lose sight of what is most important in life. Third, the more things that we have, the more strictly we will be judged. “To whom much is given, much will be required” (Luke 12:48). If God has blessed us with material wealth it is probably so that we can help others with it. While we may think that not having enough wealth is a problem, Jesus reminds us that the real problem is having too much.

James Tissot [No restrictions or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If having too much wealth is a serious problem that can prevent us from entering the kingdom of heaven, is the solution to give it all away? In the Gospel, Jesus tells the rich young man to sell all that he has and give it to the poor. Are we required to take this admonition literally? For some Christians, the answer was yes. A famous example is St. Anthony. He lived around the year 300, and was born into a relatively wealthy family in Egypt. When he was 18, Anthony’s parents died. Soon afterwards, he happened to enter a Church while Jesus’ teaching that we heard in the Gospel today was being proclaimed. Anthony understood the invitation to “go, sell what you have and give it to the poor” to be literally addressed to him. Leaving the Church, he sold his wealth, gave it to the poor and went to live as a monk in the desert. For some, the way of dealing with the problem that wealth poses to entering the kingdom of heaven is to give it all away like St. Anthony. Most of us, however, are probably not called to make such a radical renunciation of material goods.

While we may not be able to give literally everything we have to the poor, in order to overcome the barrier that wealth creates to entering the kingdom, we are required to give to the poor. A major message of today’s Gospel is that following Jesus needs to come before the pursuit of wealth. We are called to put our material goods at the service of following Christ. Because Jesus calls us to give to the poor, Christians have always viewed almsgiving as a serious obligation and not just some optional spiritual practice. Consider, for example, these words from St. Basil the Great:

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit.

Now, you may be wondering, if I need to give to the poor but cannot give everything, how much should I give? C. S. Lewis, the Christian scholar and author of the Narnia series gives a good answer:

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.

The Gospel today invites us to rethink what we consider to be “money troubles”. Having too much rather than too little wealth is an obstacle to entering the kingdom of heaven. The way to overcome this problem is by giving to the poor. Although how much we give is between us and God, we can be sure that this is something we will have to account for in the end.

"Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"

27th Sunday of OT, year B | Gen 2:18-24; Mark 10:2-12

Although I am not married, as a priest I have witnessed many weddings! Whenever I hear the couple vowing to love and honour each other for the rest of their lives, I am not only struck by their love for one another, but by their courage and trust in God. In that moment, they do not know what the future will hold: the joys, but also the great challenges. In spite of this, they promise to never give up on one another, irrespective of what will happen. This is an incredibly brave thing to do. In the readings today, we heard a strong message about the beautiful and radical nature of marriage.

The first reading from Genesis (Gen 2:18-24) spoke to us about the special relationship that exists between a man and a woman who are married. The story of the first man and woman, far from being some eye-witness account or instruction in history or geography, represents the inspired reflections of wise individuals who were raising fundamental questions and trying to answer them through the use of symbolic language. Where do we come from? What is the relationship that exists between God and humanity? What is the relationship that exists between man and woman? In presenting an answer to this last question, the story explains that woman was made from a rib taken from the side of the man. This tells us something about how the author of Genesis understood the relationship between men and women. Earlier in the story we saw that none of the animals in the garden were a suitable partner for the man. In saying that woman was formed from the side of man, the author is perhaps explaining that man and woman are meant to be “side by side” with one another. This denotes a closeness and equality. It also conveys the message that man and woman are incomplete without the other. Without woman, man is missing a part of himself, his rib. Likewise, without man, woman is missing a part of herself, the rest of the body that went with the rib. Only when man and woman are together are they complete. As Genesis explains, this unity between man and woman through which they complete one another occurs in a unique way in marriage.

Rogier van der Weyden [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In the Gospel (Mark 10:2-12), Jesus teaches us that the unity that exists between husband and wife is meant by God to be indissolvable, that is, to endure for the lifetime of the couple. At the start of the Gospel, the Pharisees question Jesus in order to draw him into a debate on a question that was hotly contested at that time. According to Deuteronomy 24:1-4, Moses permitted a man to write a note divorcing his wife because of “an indecency in her”. At Jesus’ time, religious authorities argued whether this “indecency”, and therefore the reason for which a man could divorce his wife, had to be something serious, or whether it could be a trivial matter. In his response, Jesus appeals to the text from Genesis that we heard in the first reading. He bases his argument on how God originally intended marriage to be. Moses’ instruction permitting divorce, Jesus explains, was a concession based on the inability of people to accept God’s design for marriage. According to Jesus, the unity between a husband and wife was intended by God to be permanent. As a result, anyone who divorces and marries another commits adultery.

We need to continue proclaiming Jesus’ teaching on marriage because it is a source of hope and life for us. Now, there are those who argue that Jesus’ teaching was conditioned by the time in which he lived. In our current context, they argue, we should understand his teaching differently. It is important to understand that Jesus’ teaching on marriage was as radical sounding when he first said it as it is today. This teaching was as difficult to proclaim then as it is now. When it comes to proclaiming Jesus’ teaching on marriage, we must, on the one hand, have a great sensitivity for those whose marriages have broken up. As Pope Francis has so beautifully said, the Church is a “field hospital”. We are to meet people where they are, accept them and care for them. We realize that there are cases, such as abuse, in which a separation may be the best way forward. We need to do all we can to ensure that those who are divorced and those who are divorced and remarried feel genuinely welcomed by the Church. We should seek to integrate them as much as possible into the life of the Church. On the other hand, this care for those whose marriages have broken up should be accompanied with the proclamation of Jesus’ message that God intends marriage to last for the life of the couple. God intends the best for us. Jesus wants people to know God’s plan for marriage because he wants people to have joy and the fullness of life. In marriage, God intends the couple to make a complete gift of themselves to each other. This gift is something permanent, not just for a time. All marriages encounter difficulties. By proclaiming that God intends marriages to be permanent, we can give hope to couples. Though there are difficulties, perseverance will be for their good since it is in accord with God’s plan. God’s plan for us is happiness. This can be a source of hope and support for the couple.

The readings in the Mass today encourage us to reflect on the gift of marriage. We give thanks today for those couples who, in their perseverance through the ups and downs of their marriage, give witness to the unity that God intends marriage to have. We recognize that the break up of a marriage is always a tragedy and we commit ourselves to caring for those who find themselves in a broken marriage. We pray for couples who are struggling in their marriage, that God may give them the strength to persevere. Finally, we pray for those couples who are preparing for marriage, that they may, with great courage and confidence in God’s assistance, promise to love and honour one another for as long as they live.

Tips for fighting temptation

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, year B | Mk 9:38-48

Some years ago, I was visiting a Church with my nephew, who was about four at the time. When he looked at the crucifix behind the altar, he became quite troubled. He started asking questions like “why is that man nailed to the wood?” and “why is he bleeding?” His response made me realize that it is a troubling and surprising thing to have a crucified man displayed so prominently in our Churches. I had seen the image so often, however, that I lost sight of this fact. We run into problems as Christians when we become overly comfortable with Jesus. His actions and words shocked and unsettled those who witnessed them. Because we have heard his words so often, we can forget how truly provocative they are. Today in the Gospel, we heard some shocking words from Jesus that help wake us up to the radical nature of his message.

Using some incredible strong and startling language, Jesus instructs us to get serious about rooting out sin in our lives. If your hand causes you to sin… cut it off! If your foot causes you to sin… cut it off! If your eye causes you to sin… tear it out! Although Jesus is certainly not commanding us to literally maim ourselves, through the use of this hyperbolic language, Jesus is conveying an urgent message about the severity of sin. Sin harms us. It prevents us from entering into the kingdom of God. It stops us from enjoying the fullness of life. Because sin is so harmful, Jesus commands us to take decisive and even radical action in order to root it out from our life. When we hear Jesus’ strong admonition in the Gospel today, it is impossible not to reflect on our own lives. What sin might Jesus be asking me to pay attention to rooting out? A tendency to speak badly about those around me? Greed that prevents me from sharing what I have with those in need? A habit of giving into lustful thoughts or actions?

By U.S. Air Force Photo by Josh Plueger [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In order to root out sin in our lives, we need to have a strategy for fighting temptation. Over the years I have heard some tips for fighting temptation that I have found helpful.

• Tip 1: Counter temptation when you are first aware of it. Imagine that someone makes a small snowball and releases it at the top of a hill covered in snow. As the snowball moves down the hill, it gathers more and more snow to itself as it rolls down the hill. Eventually, it will become a great big ball. At the top of the hill, while the snowball is still small, it is easy to stop its progress. As the ball makes its way downhill and grows, however, it becomes harder and harder to stop. Temptation is like this. When it first arises in our mind it is easier to stop. The longer we entertain a temptation, the more it grows and the harder it becomes to stop until it can simply run us over like a large snowball plowing down a hill.
• Tip 2: When we take strong and decisive action in the face of temptation, it can be more easily overcome. As Jesus explains in the Gospel, when it comes to battling temptation, half measures will not do. St. Ignatius explains that in tempting us the Devil is like a barking dog. if you are firm and determined from the beginning, the dog will back off. When temptations come, we should not only resist them right away. We should resist them strongly.
• Tip 3: Move in the opposite direction that the temptation prompts. St. Ignatius called this strategy of going against what we are feeling agir contra. Are you tempted to say something negative about someone? Don’t just say nothing, compliment them instead. Feeling lazy and not wanting to spend 10 minutes to clean your room? Clean your room for 12 minutes instead. Frustrated with a particular individual? Go out of your way to be kind to them. By not simply resisting the temptation but actively going against the way that temptation prompts you helps to more completely defeat the temptation. If the devil realizes that you pray longer when you are tempted not to pray, then this temptation will probably not arise as often!
• Tip 4: Stay focused on the positive reasons for fighting the temptation. We want to stop sinning not only in order to avoid what Jesus calls the “unquenchable fire” of gehenna, but also so that we can have life and enter into the kingdom of God. We should want to fight temptation not only in order to avoid the ugliness of sin, but also because we are drawn by the beauty and goodness of virtue and holiness.
• Tip 5: Do not grow discouraged. Even when we are actively trying to overcome a particular sin, we will fall. What is important is that we trust in the love and mercy of Jesus and keep trying. In struggling against temptation, the expression “fall six times, stand up seven” certainly applies. When we fall, we need to get up, seek God’s mercy and keep trying.

It is good when Jesus’ words shock and disturb us because they can lead us to action. Jesus speaks strongly in the Gospel about the need to uproot sin from our lives. Without a strategy for fighting temptation, overcoming sin may remain wishful thinking. What practical step can you take to work towards battling temptation in your life?