Sermon VII, Carelessness of the Avaricious: first part only (paras 749-793)

The avaricious man neglects God during life. 1. By omitting the good that he ought to do. 2. By doing the evil to which his desires lead him.—Preached on the ninth Sunday after Pentecost.

Text.

Ingressus in templum, cœpit ejicere vendentes in illo et ementes. Luke xix. 45.

"And entering into the temple, He began to cast out them that sold therein and them that bought."

Introduction.

So far are men carried away by the desire of money and temporal riches, that they do not hesitate to place the honor of God in the back-ground, and profane the buildings consecrated to Him; as we read in to-day's Gospel of the buyers and sellers who turned the temple of the Lord into a public market-place, so that even the meek Jesus was forced to be wroth with them and to drive them away with scourges. In my last sermon, my dear brethren, we have seen that the avaricious man, with all his labor and trouble, gains nothing either in time or eternity. But I have not said near enough, for he loses everything in time and in eternity, inasmuch as he neglects God and all that belongs to God, as I shall now show.

Plan of Discourse.

The avaricious man neglects God during life by omitting the good that he ought to do. The first part. He neglects God by doing the evil to which his desires lead him. The second part.

Therefore, O Lord, give us Thy powerful grace, that our hearts may not be led captive by this greed of gain; but that we may always raise them to heavenly goods, through the intercession of Mary and the holy angels guardian.

To possess God, it is indispensably necessary for us to acknowledge him as our last end, and only true and highest happiness, who alone can fully and perfectly satisfy all the desires of our hearts; necessary to fly and avoid everything that could keep us away from Him, and on the other hand, to undertake and fulfil exactly all that can lead us to Him; necessary for us to love Him constantly with all our heart and soul, with all our mind and strength, so that every thought, desire, word and work of ours must be directed to Him. That is the only business that we have to perform in this short and uncertain life here below; whatever cannot be directed to this business by a good intention, is not only useless, but culpable and unlawful.

Now, an avaricious man who works for temporal goods with inordinate desire and care, does none of those things, and it is. humanly speaking, impossible for him to fulfil properly the duties which Jesus Christ Himself has imposed upon us; not merely because, generally speaking, it is impossible to serve two masters, but also because the love of money is utterly incompatible with the service of God; "you cannot serve God and mammon." Besides, on what does the avaricious man fix his heart and his affections? "For where thy treasure is," says Christ, "there is thy heart also." Now, money and property are a treasure. What is the end of all his actions? His money and property. In what does he place his happiness? Where does he seek his rest and pleasure? In his money and property. Of what does he think most? What does he watch most carefully? What is the most frequent subject of his thoughts? What injury does he most dread, what loss does he most fear? All these things are referred by him to his money and property. Amongst the many inclinations and propensities that lead men to evil, there are some that are violent and impetuous enough, but they are of short duration; such is, for instance, anger; a man gets angry in a moment, but in a moment his anger is over. On the other hand, there are passions that last a long time, but they are not violent; such as the feeling of dislike that we entertain for many years against another, on account of his bad temper, or ill manners; a feeling of that kind may become very deep-seated in the heart, so that everything that man does is displeasing to us; yet we carefully refrain from showing this feeling to others, nor do we allow it to lead us to deeds of rashness or violence. But avarice has both these evil qualities; it is a violent and at the same time, a long-lived passion; it is an unceasing craving which lasts night and day, it is an insatiable greed that keeps all a man's thoughts in a continual ferment. I might compare it to a restless, fidgetty, hard-hearted woman, who can hardly give herself a few hours' sleep, and makes her servants rise at day-break every morning, keeping them at work the whole day, scolding and abusing them, never giving them a moment's peace, while she herself is on foot the whole day, bustling about in every corner of the house. Avarice is just the same; it keeps all one's thoughts busy, and all the powers of soul and body constantly on the rack in order to gain wealth, to increase it, or to preserve it. Either a business has to be established, or a loss has to be made good, or a lawsuit to be continued, a journey to be undertaken, a property to be looked at, or else money has to be laid out at interest, or yearly income and rents to be collected, and payment of debts to be demanded, etc. In a word, one's head is always full of uneasy thoughts, cares and speculations, from which one is never free; they are the last thing at night, and the first thing in the morning, and the only thing during the whole day.

How is it possible to give the heart, and the whole heart, to God, under such circumstances? It is impossible. To hear Mass devoutly several times a week, to hear the word of God in sermons on Sundays and holydays, so that one may be encouraged to love heavenly things and to despise earthly goods by the inward working of the Holy Ghost, to go to Confession and Holy Communion, every month, or oftener, to make once a year a more careful examination of conscience, so as to keep one's account with God in good order, now and then, to read a spiritual book, or the lives of the Saints, to make a daily examen of conscience every evening before retiring to rest; these and similar exercises of a Christian life are unknown to the avaricious man. They do not suit his fancy, he cannot afford to practice them either at home or in his place of business. They will not help me to earn my bread, he says.

Greed of gain has taken from him all desire for God and the things of eternity, and all strength to work for the salvation of his soul. It is to people of this kind, that Christ threatens woe. Samson, as we read in the Holy Scriptures, often allowed himself to be taken by the Philistines and bound, while he was asleep. At last, he told the false and avaricious Delilah, that all his strength was in his hair, and once while he was asleep, she cut off all his hair. Thus deprived of his strength, he fell an easy victim to the Philistines, who put out his eyes and condemned him to turn a mill for their sport. Now I ask, what was Samson's greatest fault and the occasion of his misfortunes? Was it his falling asleep and allowing himself to be bound with ropes and chains? No, for he knew well that he could break his bonds as easily as if they were silken threads. His whole misfortune is to be attributed to his having disclosed the secret of his strength, and having allowed his hair to be cut; when that was done, he was no longer the same man. My dear brethren, the father or mother of a family who has to look after many children and servants, the merchant, the official, the lawyer, the tradesman, and many others of the kind, whom Divine Providence has placed in the world for the good of mankind in general, are bound fast with a hundred bonds; that is to say, they are busied every day with countless thoughts, cares and speculations as to how they are to support themselves and those belonging to them, in a manner suitable to their state. Is it perhaps in this, that the misfortune of the avaricious man consists, which makes him neglect and lose God? Oh no! one must do that in order to maintain the position in which God has placed him, as I have proved elsewhere. It is, in fact, by properly performing one's duties and directing all the cares and occupations of one's state to the right end, that is to God, that Christian perfection is attained. Avarice shows itself generally, by the fact that people who are infected with it lose their spiritual strength through their inordinate greed of gain, and become blind to the true good.

I will explain myself: a man of business has, as I have said, a hundred different thoughts in his head about buying, selling, answering letters, paying out and receiving money, and other matters of the same kind. Still, if he hears the bell ring at the usual time for Mass in the morning, he thinks at once: oh, my business can wait a while, I must go to Mass, and do my duty to my God. On Sundays and holydays, he says to himself:

this is no day for business, I shall begin a new week at it to-morrow; to-day, I must attend to God and to my salvation. A poor laborer, who happens to be in town on Sunday, and who cannot come on another day to make his necessary purchases, waits until the afternoon and meanwhile hears Mass and the sermon and performs his usual devotions, fully impressed with the idea, that if he had made his purchases instead of doing his duty as a Catholic, he would deserve to lose all he has. The first or some other Sunday in the month comes on; at once he thinks, oh, good bye to all business for to-day, I must prepare for Confession and Communion. He sees the Blessed Sacrament carried through the streets to a sick person; my business must now wait a little, he says to himself, I must show proper respect to my God and publicly accompany Him. A poor beggar comes to his door; I have a great many children, he thinks. and housekeeping is expensive, still, I must not on that account, refuse to help Christ in the person of His poor. He never rises in the morning, or goes to bed at night, without saying his prayers devoutly. See, my dear brethren, this man is a Samson who is bound with many cords, but he is not shorn of his hair; that is, he has many temporal cares, but he still preserves his spiritual strength by which he can tear asunder those bonds, and free himself from the slavery of worldly anxieties whenever his duty to God or the good of his soul requires; he takes care of his temporal affairs and works to make money, but he is not on that account avaricious.

But, mark the difference; if any one of you is so much taken up with business cares, that he does not attend to God and to his soul in the manner described, then should I say of him: alas, poor, unfortunate Samson, thou art shorn of thy locks and bound fast; thou hast lost all thy strength to do good; thou art a slave to greed of gain and an inordinate desire of earthly things! Even though thou seekest no unjust profit, thy very mode of life is not justified before God;

thou art subject to a disgraceful avarice which will treat thee as the Philistines treated Samson, after they had shorn him of his locks and deprived him of his strength; it will put out thy eyes and make thee blind, that is, it will take away from thee all supernatural light and all thoughts and desires of heavenly things; it will put thee to grind in a mill, wearing out thy life with constant cares and anxieties, until, at last, as happened to Samson, when thou art tired of the unceasing toil, the house will fall upon thee and thou shalt hear the words: "Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?" Whose shall they be? I ask. They shall be for my children and heirs, you think. Is that the case, says St. Augustine, do you then work for others and forget your soul? And it is so in reality. Ask some gray-haired old grandfather, for whom does he labor? For my children he will say. And for whom does his married son labor? The latter will answer, for his children. And for whom do they work? For their children in turn. Alas, concludes St. Augustine, what folly and blindness! no one works for himself and his soul. Naturalists tell us of a certain kind of bird that lives but a short time, yet it is always flying about looking for food, not indeed that it eats much, for it is content with very little, but simply to make provision for the future; the result is that by dint of sparing, it dies of hunger while other birds come and eat the food it has heaped up. The avaricious act in the same foolish manner; they wear away their lives in constant efforts to make money, which they will not be able to make use of themselves; but when they die, exhausted by unceasing toil, others come and carry off their hoards. They are like Domitian, of whom Suetonius narrates that he dreamt one night that he had on his shoulders a heavy, but at the same time, an agreeable burden; he thought that a hump of gold had grown on his back, whereat he was greatly rejoiced. A foolish joy in my opinion, for he had much more reason to grieve at a deformity that would make him contemptible in the sight of men. If he could have really had such a hump, he would have been obliged to carry it about with infinite labor, without ever deriving the least advantage from it. How many there are who make a golden hump for themselves. They heap up riches, but on their backs; not for themselves, but for their children and descendants. With reason, does St. Augustine complain that no one works for God and for Heaven. No; avarice will not tolerate labor of that kind, when it once gets hold of the heart. As Salvianus says: "The mind follows its treasure, and becomes changed into an earthly substance."

Heaven is nothing more to an avaricious man, than it is to a dumb beast, which can see it as long as there is light; his soul is no more to him than to a dumb beast, he neglects it as if it were to perish with the body.

His God is money, and therefore St. Paul compares avarice to idolatry. As the Prophet Osee, during the Babylonian captivity, was preaching to the Jews and exhorting them to adore the true God, Ephraim said to him: "I will not adore the God of whom you speak." And why? "But yet I am become rich, I have found me an idol." The avaricious man says the same thing by his acts: I have found me an idol; what is God to me? I have neither time nor inclination to serve Him; I have my God at home in my coffers. If now and then, he does something to serve the true God, he does it only for the sake of money and temporal gain. Prayer, visiting the church, processions and pilgrimages are all directed by him to his own selfish ends; he wishes to have a good harvest, or to succeed in his enterprises, or to avert misfortune from his household, or to gain a lawsuit; these and such things as these, are the only ends that he proposes to himself in his devotions. If he had nothing to fear or to hope from Heaven, he would never think of God. Thus, says St. Augustine, he places his highest happiness in riches, and looks on God only as a helper in the pursuit of wealth. "He does not seek money for God's sake, but he seeks God for money's sake."

God, as the common Father of all, has given to some an abundance of worldly wealth, that they may help the poor and needy; that is the last thing the avaricious man thinks of; it is easier to get blood from a stone than an alms from a miser, although he has more money than he knows what to do with.

Divine Providence has given to some a large share of temporal goods, to others a lesser share, and to others none at all, so that men might stand in need of each other, and by helping each other, all go to Heaven; the poor man by his patience and resignation to the will of God; the rich man by alms-deeds and the works of Christian charity. Now, if there is no doubt that the rich are bound under pain of sin to help the poor out of their superfluous wealth, how much greater is not the obligation of a rich man who is a miser? For, since he spends less than he might, his store increases daily, and with it the obligation of alms-giving. But there is little use in reminding him of his duty; greed of gain has tied his hands, and taken all charity out of his heart. On account of their transitory nature, and because they generally pass from one hand to another, riches are compared to flowing water; but there is a great difference between a gently flowing stream and the stormy sea. The stream with its clear waters is useful to all; the traveller slakes his thirst at it, the maid-servant comes to it for water to cook with, it can be used for washing, etc. On the other hand, the water of the sea is too salt to serve for any purpose but one, and that is, to carry merchandise. A miser's riches are like the sea water; as long as they are in his possession, they are of no good to any one; no poor man, nor any one else need hope to profit by them. The poor who knock at a miser's door, seem to me to resemble the lean cattle on the mountain of Fiesole in Italy; I have been told by people who have been there that this is a very high and precipitous mountain, and at its foot is a most beautiful plain, full of green meadows, and well watered. The cattle on the mountain look down upon the plain, stretch out their necks and lick their lips at the sight of the fine grass; but all in vain, they are just as hungry as before, because the grass is beyond their reach. Such it seems to me is the state of those unfortunate poor who ask alms of a miser. They see the rich pastures, the superfluous wealth, the heaps of money; their mouths water at the sight, they bow their heads humbly and ask an alms for God's sake. Alas, all in vain! There is nothing for you here, away with you, I will not give you a single crust! Avarice has taken from the miser's heart all human feeling and natural pity, and much more than that, it has taken away all supernatural virtue, all Christian charity and mercy. Thus my dear brethren, the avaricious man neglects God during life by omitting the good he is bound to do. But he incurs a still greater responsibility before God, by doing the evil to which his avarice leads him; as we shall see in the