Idolatry of money starves children to death - Pope
(Vatican Radio) In these times, with much calamities
and injustice on the media, especially regarding children, let us raise an
earnest prayer that God convert the hearts of men to be able to know the Lord
and not worship money as God. This was the exhortation of the Pope
Francis in his homily at Mass, Monday morning, in the chapel of the Santa Marta
residence in the Vatican.
Idolatry of money
Taking his cue from the parable in Luke’s Gospel, where the
rich fool worshipped money as God, the Pope reflected on the vanity of putting
trust in earthly goods rather than in the true treasure of relationship with
the Lord. Despite an abundant harvest, the greedy man thinks of expanding
his storehouses. “Dreaming of a long life”, the Pope said, “he thinks of
having more goods to the point of nausea, and not being satisfied, he enters
into a spiral of "exasperated consumerism.”
The Pope said, “it is God who puts a limit to this
attachment to money.” A man enslaved by money is not a tale invented by
Jesus, the Pope explained, adding it is true even today, where many live
adoring money. The life of those who accumulate riches for themselves, has no
meaning, he said. They don’t know what it means to be rich in
God. In this regard, he recalled an episode of a wealthy
businessman in Argentina who despite being seriously ill, stubbornly went on to
buy a villa without thinking instead that he would have to present himself
before God shortly.
Idolatry starves the poor
Even today, there are these people hungering for money and
earthly possessions, the Pope lamented, people who have "a lot"
compared to "the hungry children who lack medicines and education and who
are abandoned". This, the Pope pointed out, is an "an idolatry
that kills", that “sacrifices human beings”. "This idolatry
starves many people to death,” Pope Francis stressed, citing the case of 200,000
Rohingya children out of 800,000 people in refugee camps, who hardly
eat and are malnourished, without medicines. This is happening today,
the Pope said, and not something of Jesus’ time. In the face of this, the Pope
urged for an earnest prayer: “Lord, please touch the hearts of these
people who worship God, the God of money. Touch also my heart because so that I
don’t fall into that and know how to see.”
Greed breeds war
Another consequence of this greed, the Pope pointed out, is
war, including also in the family. He spoke about what
happens in a family when it is the question of inheritance.
Families are divided and end up in hatred, one against the other. The
Pope said that at the end of it all, the Lord gently reminds us that the only
road to enriching oneself is in the Lord. “Wealth is only in God,”
the Pope said, adding, this does not mean scorning money. “No,”
he said, “it is greed, as the Lord says. Living attached to the God
of money.” This is why, the Pope said, our prayer must be strong, seeking
in God the solid foundation of our existence.
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