The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10)<\/i><\/p>\n
The financial powers dictate austerity and social cuts in order to solve the debt crisis.\u00a0 With the cooperation of submissive governments, they punish everybody, except themselves, the ones to blame primarily.<\/p>\n
Their guilt is that they do not guard against greed.\u00a0 They get carried away by the drive to enrich themselves at all cost.\u00a0 They are not like the conquistadores<\/i> of the past, but they do subjugate and dehumanize.<\/p>\n
They reduce human existence to possessing, appropriating things and people even.\u00a0 They suppose religion to be a means of gain (1 Tim. 6:5). They foster consumerism.\u00a0 They see to it that there is an unfettered selling and buying of everything, including the superfluous.\u00a0 Making sure that the fine prints of contracts are not gone over and disregarding full disclosure, they get one with uncertain resources hooked on a subprime mortgage or on a home equity loan that would ultimately leave him without home or hope.\u00a0 They care only about their profits, not about their employees or the jobless.<\/p>\n
It is time to be wary and to expose the lies of the banks.\u00a0 Let us not believe their advertisements to the effect that happiness consists in being opulent, in enjoying the best comfort, in living it up, and that poverty means sadness.<\/p>\n
Such propaganda is belied by Jesus\u2019 birth in Bethlehem (insignificant yet provides bread for the hungry), in very poor and uncomfortable circumstances.\u00a0 There brilliance does not derive from Christmas lights or trees.\u00a0 Neither is joy associated with beautifully wrapped gifts.\u00a0 There the angels and shepherds give God glory and praise, and Mary, without any sadness, peacefully ponders.<\/p>\n
With our eyes fixed on the Nativity scene, we can be simple folks again whose straits are no impediment to celebrating gratefully even the smallest of blessings.\u00a0 We shall keep the advice:\u00a0 \u201cLet your life be free from love of money \u2026, for he has said, \u2018I will never forsake you or abandon you.\u2019\u00a0 Thus we may say with confidence:\u00a0 \u2018The Lord is my helper \u2026.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 We shall be like St. Vincent de Paul who, upon hearing the bursar say there was no money left, replied:\u00a0 \u201cThat is good news!\u00a0 Blessed be God!\u00a0 Now is the time to show we trust in his goodness\u201d (Abelly\u00a03, III, 13)\u00a0\u00a0.\u00a0 We will esteem divine teachings more precious than heaps of silver and gold (Ps. 119:72).<\/p>\n
We Christians will live in accordance with Jesus\u2019 teaching, \u201cThough one may be rich, one\u2019s life does not consist of possessions,\u201d that there is no profit for us to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit ourselves (Lk. 12:15; 9:25).\u00a0 In the midst of the crisis, we will joyfully recover loving solidarity, which will impel us to share what we have with those whose needs are greater than ours, and to weep prayerfully, for example, with the inconsolable families in Newton, Connecticut.\u00a0 We will understand that jubilee and beauty belong to those persons who, just like Mary, go in haste over the hills to bring tidings of peace and joy (Ps. 52:7).<\/p>\n
Wicked money seeks to plunge us into destruction (1 Tim. 6:9).\u00a0 Jesus, on the other hand, has plans of peace for us, of a future full of hope (cf. Jer. 29:11). \u00a0And he invites us to the manger to give us food and a pledge of future glory, and to challenge us each time to store treasures, through good works, for the true life (1 Tim. 6:19) and \u201cto always be,\u201d as Paul VI exhorted the Mexican people, \u201cin the front line in all efforts to attain progress, and in all the initiatives for improving the situation of those who suffer want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"