We owe it to ourselves to live our lives such that our
innermost desires, thoughts, words and deeds will not come back to burden us like
heavy weights. This same principle should apply to whatever we have, what is in
our custody or under our control. These includes our physical body, our clothing,
our money and even our relationships. All of these may not be treated in ways
that will cost us our inner peace. So, what should be our attitude when it
concerns material possessions and wealth generally?
We can obtain clarity about this when we recall the answer
which Jesus gave to the rich young man who asked him about what he should do to
attain eternal life. Christ told this particular man to give away all his
earthly possessions. This is because this young man was surrounded by wealth
and was too weak to exert himself to rise inwardly. His riches and the
attendant comfort formed a hindrance, like an inner weight, to his spiritual
ascent! The best advice which Christ could therefore give him was to remove
every obstacle, which in his case was the wealth which was inducing him to live
a life of comfort. So when the man asked, Jesus bent towards him, saying in a
low voice so that only those who are standing nearest could hear his words:
“Give all your wealth to the poor, and work for your livelihood with your own
strength; then your life will have meaning for you and make you happy. Thereby
you will smooth your paths to the Kingdom of Heaven.” Please note that this
advice of Jesus applies to this man and to all those who are like him. It is
not the case that Jesus is against wealth, but we must not allow the comfort
provided by wealth to become a burden that will pull us down into the regions
of the damned.
Let us therefore use whatever we have, who we are and our relationships
in such a way that it leads to our ascent, our joy and our peace.
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