You Cannot Serve God and Mammon

09-18-2022Weekly ReflectionFr. Manasseh Iorchir, VC

The Readings this weekend prescribe for us the right attitude a Christian should have towards the acquisition of, and the disbursement of, wealth. The Prophet Amos, one of the champions of social justice in the Old Testament, offers a descriptive rendition of prevailing dishonest, arrogant and oppressive attitudes of the wealthy towards the needy.

The prophet reveals that the wealthy in Israel regard religious practices like the Sabbath rest as an irritable impediment to profit. He accused them of measuring out less and charging more by tempering with the scales. He warned that if the oppressed had no way of seeking redress, God would certainly not let social injustice of such magnitude slide.

The level of social injustice in our time, and sometimes around us, is almost palpable. The pursuit of earthly happiness through money and other forms of wealth has robbed many of compassion, a constitutive feeling common to all human beings. The goal of many seems to be to rake in the money at all cost without caring if people’s lives are negatively affected or damaged in the process. In addition, we seem to have forgotten that the observance of the Sabbath rest is still part of the Ten Commandments and obligatory for all Christians. The Prophet Amos reminds us that God is the giver of time and wealth and that a lifestyle of self-indulgence and indifference to the living condition of the less fortunate is a sure way to attract Divine wrath.

In the Gospel passage, Jesus told the parable of the astute servant who, upon discovery that he was about to lose his lucrative stewardship, set upon reducing the debts owed his master by debtors in order to prequalify himself for their goodwill when he would eventually lose his present employment. Note that his master did not in any way praise or encourage his dishonesty; rather, he commended his astuteness. The world encourages an attitude in which we can “use people to gain things.” Jesus reversed this: “use things to gain people.” Pagan religions seem to suggest that we sacrifice people in order to gain material wealth; Christianity refutes this erroneous claim, and instead holds that we ought to sacrifice material goods in order to gain spiritual wealth. Charity, a virtue which the possession of earthly goods allows us to practice, can truly open the gate of Divine Mercy.

May we be aided by Divine Grace to always choose God over the lure of mammon.

Please be kind and may God bless you.

Fr. Manasseh

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