“He went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘In truth I tell you, it is hard for someone rich to enter the kingdom of Heaven”
Money itself is as good as all creation. It becomes evil according to the human attitude towards it. If a man is a slave of money, whether he has much or little, then money is an obstacle for his being a true human being, because God created man to be free, master of all creation, not to be a slave to anyone or to anything
When money becomes a master, it is evil because it blinds its owner from seeing oneself, from seeking one’s own perfection and from seeing his brother. If money becomes an instrument of tyranny, injustice and inequality in its distribution, if it becomes a source of corruption then money becomes an obstacle to one’s self-perfection and an obstacle to one’s salvation.
If the owner of the money is the master, he uses his money well as a good tool for good deeds, in building society in general, in seeking to eliminate poverty, to care for the poor and needy, to share with them, not in giving alms or randomly, but in sharing until the needy can be self-supporting, then money is good and the owner of money can be saved. Anyone who builds a church may be a virtuous human being, but the one who “builds a man”, the temple of the living God, is the true virtuous man.
When the owner of the money is a master, not a slave to one’s money, when money is a factor to develop one’s own humanity and helps one come nearer to God, when one looks more intensely to seek brethren to share with them, then money is good and part of the goodness that God granted to his whole creation.
