24th Friday in Ordinary Time

1 Tim 6:2c-12

Ps 49

One hears the most well-known verse from the first reading misquoted most of the time.  Contrary to popular belief, money is not the root of all evil. The letter to Timothy reads:  "For the love of money is the root of all evils."  The distinction is crucial.

At worst, money as money, money as currency, is neutral.  Human attachment to it and the desire for more and more of it, however, is not neutral.  It can be abnormal to the point of pathology.  The love of money is the root of all the evils that one can name and a few evils that have yet to be discovered.  The reading notes: "those who want to be rich" fall into temptation, they give in to many foolish and harmful desires that lead to ruin, destruction and loss of faith. Many lotto winners have learned this through very painful experience.

Money is not intrinsically evil.  But, when love of money, when an insane desire for more and more of it, when obsession with amassing more than anyone else, becomes life's goal, one is lost.  One is lost to God.  One is lost to family and friends.  One is lost to oneself.  Consider the headlines from past years and local stories that never quite made the headlines, though they might have had a quick mention in the Metro section. 

The nationally sensational stories and the stories of merely local interest, share the same common denominator, they share the same dynamicof love of money as the driving force behind sin. 

Bernie Madoff. No need to elaborate on the evil the man perpetrated as the result of greed. Sixty-four billion dollars scammed.  The lives of many changed and ruined.

The woman who steals from the volunteer fire company.  No need to elaborate.  Same greed and desire for money.  A few thousand dollars stolen.  A lesser number of lives changed and ruined, but lives changed and ruined nonetheless.

The sins differ only in the amount of money taken and the degree of news coverage.  The sinful desires, the obsession, and the selfish disregard for others are identical.  It is merely a matter of scale and amount.  Mr. Madoff is in prison on a 150-year sentence.  Both sons are dead, one from cancer and the other from suicide.  His wife is a pariah.  The woman in prison for embezzlement is separated from her children for a few years.  The kids must live with the stigma of mother who is a felon.   And she too will be a pariah when released.

I would make a small edit to the Letter to Timothy involving just three letters and swapping prepositions. Instead of " . . . the love of money is the root of all evils" substitute " . . . the lust for money is the root of all evils." It is a more accurate description of the blind drive to sin.

Heed the psalmist's warning,

"For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down. . .

He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light."

 __________________________________________________________

No weekend Mass scheduled, a distinct rarity.  Much to be done and I am grateful for the free time.  I will probably celebrate a private Mass and then attack the list of things to do, a list that includes watching Penn State-Iowa tomorrow night.  

The reading from 1 Timothy has fascinated me for a long time.  It is a good illustration how a misquote as explained in the homily, can change meaning and allow one to use the misquoted line as a club with which to beat others into submission to one's agenda.  

The photos are from September 2013 and taken in a eight-day span that ended on 29 September.  I was on my final vow retreat.  It was a spectacular time to be doing it as the leaves were changing on a day-by-day basis.  

The monastic cemetery is just outside the cloister walk.  

The road extends for close to a mile.  There is another of about the same length extending in the other direction.  One is the north road and the other the south.  Given my extreme directional impairment I have no idea which is which.

A detail of the glass in a library door.

Sometimes the play of light on the most mundane of things, in this case a storage area in a small hall can result in a lovely image.   Rule of photography:  pay attention to small details that would otherwise be missed.

Busy as a bee.  

This combination of shape, color, and texture fits with my definition of autumn. 

Sunrise looking toward the general direction of the town of Spencer.  I left for Weston a few hours later on 29 September.  Pronounced final vows on 1 October.  

+Fr. Jack, SJ, MD