“Take care to guard against all greed”
What is greed? Greed is also known as avarice or cupidity. “It implies a controlling passion for wealth or possessions and suggests not so much a strong as an inordinate desire and is commonly associated with the lust for power.”[i] Greed comes from the capital sin of envy.
MOVIE – The Hobbit
In this clip it shows the king was greedy for his mass assumption of gold and feeling as if there was nothing to fear.
MUSIC – “Tripping Billies” by Dave Matthews Band
The intro into the chorus uses the same verse in the Gospel reading, “Eat, Drink, and be Merry”. It seems like a glamorous time and why would you want to leave this? It shows a lack of even considering the future, the afterlife, and God. Their only concern is the superficial.
Why is greed a sin? Greed breaks the tenth commandment of coveting possessions. “The tenth commandment forbids greed and the desire to amass earthly goods without limit. It forbids avarice arising from a passion for riches and their attendant power. It also forbids the desire to commit injustice by harming our neighbor in his temporal goods.”[ii] Pope Paul VI said, “Increased possession is not the ultimate goal of nations nor of individuals. All growth is ambivalent. It is essential if man is to develop as a man, but in a way it imprisons man if he considers it the supreme good, and it restricts his vision. Then we see hearts harden and minds close, and men no longer gather together in friendship but out of self-interest, which soon leads to strife and disunity. The exclusive pursuit of possessions thus becomes an obstacle to individual fulfillment and to man’s true greatness. Both for nations and for individuals, avarice is the most evident form of moral underdevelopment.”[iii]
What is gluttony? In ordinate desire for the pleasure connected with good or drink. This desire may become sinful in various ways: by eating or drinking far more than a person needs to maintain bodily strength; by glutting one’s taste for certain kinds of food with known detriment to health; by indulging the appetite for exquisite food or drink, especially when these are beyond one’s ability to afford a luxurious diet; by eating or drinking too avidly, i.e., ravenously; by consuming alcoholic beverages to the point of losing full control of one’s reasoning powers. Intoxication that ends in complete loss of reason is a mortal sin if brought on without justification, e.g., for medical reasons.”[iv]
How do we avoid being greedy or gluttons? We pursue a detachment of things. “Detachment from riches is necessary for entering the Kingdom of heaven. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit.’”[v]
In the end, just as the man in the parable, we too will die one day. No matter how much wealth we amass we cannot take it with us down into the grave. We should live with a knowledge that we will die someday, and that do we want to be remembered for how greedy we were with our money and possessions or how generous we were. “A person who lives as if he were to die every day – given that our life is uncertain by definition – will not sin, for good fear extinguishes most of the disorder of our appetites; whereas, he who thinks he has a long life ahead of him will easily let himself be dominated by pleasures.”[vi] The Penney Catechism suggests in it’s Spiritual Exercise section that at the end of each day the Christian, “occupy them self with the thoughts of death; and endeavor to compose them self to rest at the foot of the Cross, and give their last thoughts to their crucified Savior.”[vii] The Christian thinks of death not in a morbid or fearful way, but rather as a daily reminder that death is real, it comes to all and no one knows when it will occur. This is also why the Christian can pray for a happy death. “O God, Who hast doomed all men to die, but hast concealed from all the hour of their death, grant that I may pass my days in the practice of holiness and justice, and that I may deserve to quit this world in peace of a good conscience, and in the embraces of Thy love. Through Christ our Lord. Amen” This prayer says it all. All men will die, no one knows the hour, so let us live in the practice of holiness and justice and pray each day especially to Saint Joseph the patron of a happy death and to Our Lady who prays for us “at the hour of our death.”
Why is Saint Joseph the patron of a happy death? “Since we all must die, we should cherish a special devotion to St. Joseph, that he may obtain for us a happy death. All Christians regard him as the advocate of the dying who had honored him during their life, and they do so for three reasons: First, because Jesus Christ loved him not only as a friend, but as a father, and on this account his mediation is far more efficacious than that of any other Saint. Second, because St. Joseph has obtained special power against the evil spirits, who tempt us with redoubled vigor at the hour of death. Third, the assistance given St. Joseph at his death by Jesus and Mary obtained for him the right to secure a holy and peaceful death for his servants. Hence, if they invoke him at the hour of death he will not only help them, but he will also obtain for them the assistance of Jesus and Mary.”[viii]
[i] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary pg. 238
[ii] CCC 2536
[iii] Paul VI, Populorum progression, 19
[iv] Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary, pg. 232
[v] CCC 2556
[vi] St. Athanasius, Against Antigonum
[vii] The Penny Catechism
[viii] St. Alphonsus Liguori on St. Joseph