“While money can't buy happiness, it certainly lets you choose your own form of misery.” ― Groucho Marx
“If I could just win the lottery, then all my problems would be over!” Have you ever heard someone make a wish like that? I know I have. Money is usually elevated to a god-like status with all kinds of spiritual and emotional power. We are a nation with unbelievable financial power and yet we seem to be so unsatisfied, working a few extra hours for just a bit more, believing that a little extra is all it will take for happiness and peace to arrive. In response to this hunger, almost every state now has some sort of lottery dangling the lure of a get-rich-quick scheme, and they have a seemingly endless supply of addicts. But sometimes getting everything you ever wanted means those little annoyances become life-changing disasters.
I remember a television show years ago called “The Millionaires.” The show was from the old black and white era in which people from all walks of life and economic backgrounds would receive a million dollars will no strings attached to do whatever they desired. The core of the show was to reveal what seemingly normal people really desired. Once money no longer became a constraint, a lot of things quickly came to the surface as old scores could be settled, ambitions fulfilled, or kindnesses repaid. People who were reasonably content with themselves and their purpose in life experienced this windfall as an exciting opportunity to be generous and create good things for friends, family, and charitable organizations. But for others, even with a million in the bank, money became a weapon as their greed mushroomed into paranoia and bitterness. Some saw money as an opportunity to bring joy to others and build relationships; for others, the money became a lightening rod that split marriages, destroyed families, and created wounds that would never heal. In both cases, the amount of money remained the same; it was the desire of hearts that were different.
The bottom line is that money is a pretty good mirror of the soul, it reveals our deepest desires, beliefs and fears. So when the Church talks about money, stewardship and generosity, it is with the hope that we will do a bit of self-examination before money becomes our master. God Bless,
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