The Importance of Loyalty

No servant can serve two masters.  He will either hate one and love the other or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon."

Economics is not my field of expertise.  I do not pretend to know much about the stock market, the board of trade, or even how much gold there is in Fort Knox. Some say that money is just the way we keep score in the game of life. Perhaps this is true, but if it is then money is more than just a scorecard, it is something to be grasped at no matter what the personal cost.  It is in effect our master. 

As the people of God, we cannot allow money to be the master over us.  While it is necessary to use money in the world to attain what is necessary to sustain our lives and the lives of those that depend on us, it should not be the be-all and end-all of all of our work. Our loyalty should not be to money but should be to God.  

Okay, so we personally won't serve money as our god.  We see that we must serve God before man.  But look at the churches, especially the Catholic Church.  It is not exactly ready to send her curia to stand in line at the soup kitchen.  She seems to have a ton of money and between what our parish shares with the diocese and what the diocese shares with Rome there seems to be a lot of money floating around, more than many of the other denominations put together have on deposit.  Then they come at us once a year to donate to Peter's Pence to help the pope in his charitable works.  It seems that there is an awful lot of cash floating around.  And, how about the Vatican Bank?  It has a reputation for helping out people in need of dry cleaning services for their cash.   Where is the curia's loyalty?  So they serve their God or is their god money? 

The truth be told, the Vatican usually operates at a deficit.  For example in 2015 the revenue received was 315 million Euros against expenditures of 329 million Euros.  Remember, that the Church very often is the first organization there when a disaster strikes.  She feeds the hungry and uses the funds entrusted to her in Godly projects that help people.  In Francis, we have a pope that will give up the pomp and circumstance of his office so that those that need help are not deprived.  Francis just announced that duty-free cigarettes will no longer be sold in the stores in Vatican City, depriving the Vatican of about ten-million dollars of revenue each year.  The reason?  Francis says that the Church should not profit from a product that is bad for peoples health so, on January 1, 2018, you will not be able to buy smokes in Vatican City.  This small act shows where the loyalty of Francis lies. He values people over money. 

For us, we should not be mastered by money, we should be the master of it.  Sharing our time, talent and treasure will help us keep our loyalties straight.  We owe to God much more than money can buy.  No matter what, we will always be at least one penny short when it comes to the ticket price of heaven and that extra penny is worth more than all of the money that has ever been minted because the only source of it is the love that God has for each of us.  So, yes, money is important.  Earn it and use it wisely taking care to pay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God that which is owed to God. 

Can you do me a favor?  Will you take a moment out of your busy day to pray for the poor souls in Purgatory?  While they are filled with joy, they suffer greatly and depend on your prayers.   "As they are, perhaps one day you shall be."  

Jesus and the Lottery

"Amen, amen, I say to you,

whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,

and will do greater ones than these,

because I am going to the Father. 

And whatever you ask in my name, I will do,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 

If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it."

Dear Lord, I want a winning lottery ticket, in Jesus name, I pray, Amen.  Well, it's off to the Shell station on the corner to buy my guaranteed "in Jesus Name" winning lottery ticket!  Man, am I going to have fun with all those greenbacks!  Or, have I set myself up for failure?   

Now, there is no reason why Jesus cannot grant me a winning lottery ticket. He knows me.  He knows how I think and what I would do with all of that money. If it is His will, it will happen.  But, it is foolish to pray for something so temporary as little green pieces of paper. The Lord knows what will help us achieve our goal, and that is heaven. 

Prayer is a privilege that we have by virtue of being created by God.  Christian prayer is a privilege that comes to us when we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We have a twenty-four hour a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year hotline to God, a phone that will never go unanswered.  How sad it is that we do not take more advantage of this wonderful thing. 

It is through prayer that we will get to know Jesus and to cultivate a relationship with Him.  At any moment we can ASK, SEEK, & KNOCK.  We can always be assured that we will get what we ask for. It may not be a winning lottery ticket.  We have to remember that when we pray we are asking God, "Do you love me?"  His answer, no matter what it is, no matter what form it takes is always, "Yes, I love you, and you are precious in my sight.  I love you more than you can imagine. I want you to be with me forever in Paradise."  He will give us what we need when we need it for that is what a loving Father does for His children.