GOD AND MONEY

 

 

 

 

 

OCTOBER 8^th, 2012

 

 

GOD AND MONEY

 

 

Recently

I have been exposed

To some selfish experiences

In regard to

People and their money

 

One such experience

Involved a man I met at church

This man road me home from church

A few times

 

Each time

He said he didn’t have any gas

So each time-I gave him $5

 

After knowing this man

For a little over a month

I received a call

Asking me if I could borrow $60

He said they were going

To shut off his phone

And his livelihood

Depended on him having a phone

 

I had my reservations

But I thought about our Lord

And asked myself

What he would do

 

I told him to drive down

And I wrote him a check for $60

He did –and I did

 

When he picked up the money

He explained to me

That he was a  man of his word

And would pay me back on Tuesday

 

When Tuesday came

He called me

And asked me for my bank account numbers

So he could put the money

In my account

 

Of course

I did not give him my account numbers

I gave him my address instead

And told him to mail me the money

 

Of course

I never heard from him again

I think about him and pray for him

I am not bitter

I know

I only did

What our Lord would want me to do

 

 

Then there was the story

Of a young man

Who broke into Saint John’s Catholic Church

And used a crucifix to jimmy the lock

And steal the money

From the cash box

 

What is sad

Is that the church

Said that they would have helped him

Had he just asked

I believe they would have

I believe most churches would

 

Where is this world

Heading with my its greed

I asked myself

What did Jesus teach about money

 

We all know his teaching on tithing

( GIVING 10% to the church )

But what else

Did Jesus teach about money

 

In Luke’s gospel-Luke 12-13

Jesus talks about a rich fool

He talks about a rich man

Who produced a great crop

But had nowhere to store his crops

He talks about how this rich man says to himself,

“This is what I will do

I will tear down my barn

And build bigger ones

And there I will store my grain and food

And I’ll say to myself

“You have plenty of good thins

Laid up for many years

Take life easy

Eat-drink-and be merry”

 

Jesus says

This man is a fool

Because that very night

God will demand his life back

And he will die

 

Jesus goes on to say

This is how it will be with anyone

Who stores up things for himself

But is not rich toward God

 

And in Luke 16

Jesus tells the story

Of a rich man and Lazarus-a beggar

At the rich man’s gate

Lazarus laid and begged for food every day

The rich man

Never shared anything with Lazarus

 

Eventually-the beggar died

And the angels came

And took him to Abraham’s side

But the rich man died too

And was taken to hell

Where he was in torment

 

The rich man

Pleaded with Abraham

To have pity on him

And let Lazarus dip the tip

Of his finger in water

And cool the rich man’s tongue

 

Abraham replied

That in he rich man’s previous life

He had everything

And Lazarus had nothing

So Abraham said no

 

An in Luke 21

Jesus talks about the poor widow’s offering

Of two small copper coins

Being greater

Than what all the rich people were giving

At the temple

 

Jesus said,

 

“The poor widow

Has put in more than all the others

All these people

Gave their gifts out of their wealth

But she out of her poverty

Put in all she had to live on”

 

And in Matthew 19:24-Jesus said,

 

“I tell you the truth

It is hard for a rich man

To enter the kingdom of heaven

Again I tell you

It is easier for a camel

To pass through the eye of a needle

Than for a rich man

To enter the kingdom of heaven”

 

A few months ago I lost my mother

She had nothing of material value

Of this world

 

But at the end of her life

She was surrounded

By people who loved her

 

She told me once

That 40 people had lived

In our home for 30 days or more

I am here to tell you

That that was true

But my mother and my father

Gave everything they had

FOR OTHERS

They were rich in love

 

I heard a Protestant minister say once

 

“I have been with many people

As they were dying

Not one ever said,

“I wish I would have made another $million

They all inevitably say,

I wish I would have loved my spouse more

I wish I would have spent more time

with my spouse, my children, etc….

 

I made a deathbed promise many years ago

“To live for my family, my friends,

And for all people everywhere”

 

I have nothing of material value

In this world

But like my mother and my father

I have done my best

To share what I do have

 

My point is this:  LET LOVE AND COMPASSION

                             Be your motivating force---NOT money

 

Robert P. Wallman

July 6^th, 2012

 

Ps    Today is the feast of OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY

 

        800 years ago

        Christians were being captured  by Muslims

        And sold into slavery

 

        Saint John Matha founded the Trinitarians

 

        He needed large amounts of money

        To free the slaves

        He prayed to MARY-the BLESSED MOTHER

        For money for this cause

 

        His prayers were answered

        So be honored Mary by giving her the title

 

        OF OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY-today October 8^th-is the feast day