Lure of Wealth
Money is the infamous hook of the devil to turn our eyes away from God. This lure of wealth endangers our relationships with each other and ultimately divides us. This is evident in most families. Money is indeed beneficial, but we have to use it for our temporal good. Thus, to put money to good use, it should be used for welfare, service, and the common good.
Money was made for welfare. One’s welfare consists of health, which can be obtained by buying medicine that could ease symptoms and allow one to return to one's duty of serving God and people. Welfare also consists of recreation. The quality of time spent in recreation with others deepens one’s friendships or relationships. It is considered a time for repose and being with family. Money consists of the needs of an individual. In an anthropological sense, the needs of a human are food, water, and shelter, considering air is given. With the gift of money, we can buy something for our welfare.
Money was made for service. Once we have our money for our welfare, then it’s an opportunity to share it with others for the people in need. We are gifted with the ability to give these temporary goods to people who need them for their basic needs in life. This is a call for charity as a loving service to others by giving them material needs. A practical thing that I have been doing is whenever I go out, I make sure that I had coins and a religious stamp in my pocket that I could give to children and beggars. Research says that the materially deprived is one of the main hindrances to human flourishing. This is caused by one’s greed and selfishness; thus, the main obstacle to human flourishing is sin.
Money was made for the common good. One of the tenets of Catholic social teaching is the common good. It is defined as the "totality of social conditions that allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfillment more fully and more easily." Christians should be disturbed when injustice and deprivation reign in society. By working together for the common good of society, we can use the money for educational, medical, social, or charitable purposes.
Thus, money was made for the common good, welfare, and services. Our Lord says, "Where your treasure is, there also your heart will be." Focusing too much on money as a means of joy and fulfillment may endanger one’s soul from entering hell because of one’s greed and selfishness. Seeing money as a means of service and the common good as a tool for acquiring virtue, St. Thomas Aquinas says that wealth can be an instrument of virtue and that it is only in this sense that it can be called good. If it impedes the practice of virtue, then it is evil. Therefore, let us make good use of our money and give generously to those who are in need without allowing our motives to become tainted with self-interest.
