SUNDAY MESSAGE (audio message)
BY HIS EMINENCE THE METROPOLITAN
KYTHIRA & ANTIKYTHIRA SERAPHIM
SUNDAY J’ LUCK
(24-11-2024)
WRITTEN TH. KIRYGMA
Wealth management : is joy the solution?;
Again, my Christians, our Lord teaches us to avoid selfishness - that is, caring only for ourselves.
One form of it is avarice. The miser - a real idolater - is hooked on money. He believes it's the most powerful weapon in his life. And he is determined to keep it as his most precious treasure, to strive to increase it, to make it his only concern. In the end he manages to be poor in practice! Poorer than anyone else, since the preservation of wealth is an end in itself. He doesn't think of spending. Not for others, not for himself.
Another form of selfish enrichment is collectivism. The avid collector spends his days visiting the «galleries» to see if he can find a rare and expensive collectible. And he collects in his house a multitude of expensive objects. Sometimes he even spends hours gazing at his - useless - treasures. At the same time, he cares little about the aesthetics of his collection: as long as they have a high market price, even though he is not going to sell anything. And something else: That no one else has his rare objects.
It is possible, of course, that his initial financial ease was due to honest work or favourable circumstances. In other words, it was typically legal. Then the rich man's sense of certainty that his riches are his own, and that he is a rich man... his own. They do not belong to anyone else.
It is obvious that there is a third kind of wealth, that which is unjustly acquired: Either by theft (private or public), or by the exploitation of fellow human beings, or by sinful misappropriation. Surely the kind of wealth thus acquired is the worst kind, immoral to begin with.
In the incident in today's Gospel reading, Jesus was not concerned with the way in which the lord was enriched. He reminded him of what he already knew, namely the negative commandments of the Mosaic Law, as well as the debt of honour to parents. But the rich man, typically «righteous» by virtue of his sins, replied that he had kept them.
Our omniscient Lord, proceeding to the essence, indicated to him the renunciation of all his good things and the walk with Him. Furthermore, He guaranteed him «treasure in heaven. And then it was seen where the archon had given his soul and his heart: he went away in sorrow...
In reality, that vain man was waiting for a justification in the eyes of God, without renouncing the -useless worldly worlds.
And Jesus, wanting to describe human cruelty, mentioned the difficulty of the rich, with the example of the camel and the needle hole. When his disciples were in despair, the Lord gave them hope: «What is impossible with men is possible with God.’.
How many rich or even wealthy people pray for this divine Power and illumination?;
Rev. P. Mariatos
