In the Gospel this weekend Jesus speaks of treasure in heaven, as quite different from financial wealth on earth. “There are no pockets in the shroud” is a wise old saying. To be poor in spirit, even if I am well off, so that my money does not own me, nor am I enslaved to it. It is a commonplace that while the first fortune may be the hardest to make, it breeds a compulsion to make even more. It cannot be right that some people own thousands of times more than the lowest-paid worker. Naked capitalism, unrestrained by some requirement of social sharing, is far from the fairness that God requires. There’s such a difference between monetary riches and spiritual wealth. There is no greater wealth than a loving, kind heart. In many ways money cannot buy happiness.
It is such a simple lesson, but one we will never learn unless we want to. When we die, we have to let go of everything. A doctor was at the bedside of a wealthy woman who was dying, who had a reputation for being mean with her money. She had no family of her own, so there was great interest as to who would inherit her wealth. (“Where there’s a will, there are relatives!’). When she passed away, one of the nurses whispered “I wonder how much did she leave behind?” Quietly the doctor answered, “She left everything.”
Fr Mark Franklin
