God and Money

I have a friend who has been successful at business, and to my knowledge, quite wealthy.  I have known him to be very generous to people in need and good causes. All of his giving was done quietly.  I caught up with him recently, and during the conversation, he mentioned where he was living. I sensed something was wrong, and I was right. He had lost most of his money through either unwise investments or unscrupulous colleagues. He wasn’t quite on the street, but close to it. The strange thing was that he was smiling was he was telling me this story.  He was unfazed about his present predicament and confident in the future. He expressed no doom and gloom and clear about what was important. He had that wonderful gift described by Isaiah, the gift of trust in God.

The God that Isaiah shows us is my friend’s God.  That God is yours and mine as well. This is the God who will never abandon us, who is always near, always accessible. This is the God who calls us, and in whom we will find rest. We prayed in response to the psalm “In God alone is my soul at rest”. As Christians our trust is in this God, and because of this trust we are able to live our lives without anxiety. It does not mean that we will not stress or be anxious, it means that we know that these things are not necessary and will not change a thing. God is in charge; we do our best and allow God to do the rest. 

I remember a cartoon once of a big man looking in a mirror saying: I am a self-made man and I worship my maker! As he did, we have to make the fundamental choice whether to trust God or trust in our own material abilities. Since we are here, we have made the first move in the right direction. We go onwards from here. My mate knew that whatever business in which he invested had to be done well, to benefit the maximum number of people, and to do it with integrity and justice. Whatever proceeds he made then needed to be used for the good of the maximum number of people, not just for his own desires. His family came first, but then the needy, and there are always plenty of these.

Each of us shares in this challenge. We are all part of the economy of our town and country. As Christians we are called to participate in this economy with justice and integrity, not just to make money. It is not good enough for a Christian to do a job or invest in something just because it makes money. To do this is to be on the road to being a slave to money. To take a very local example, there is no moral justification for the gas plant at Price’s Point to go ahead just because it will make money. For a Christian there has to be fuller reasoning than money, and of none is found, it should not be supported.

The Christian puts everything to the integrity and justice test. To do this requires faith and trust. The benefits of this are a lack of stress and anxiety, as well as the knowledge that God is in charge, and we are doing our best to co-operate. May God give us open eyes and hearts focused on building his world on earth to prepare for the kingdom of heaven.


Homily 27th Feb 2011, 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time,  OLQP Broome