We will be looking
at these two steps together because they represent opposite sides of the same
coin. Step 16 describes the
spiritual illness, while Step 17 prescribes the spiritual cure. The words of Jesus fittingly introduce
their theme: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth . . . but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven . . . For where your treasure is, there
will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:19-21). There is very little which reveals the state of our hearts
more clearly than our attitude towards our possessions and the way we use
them. It is easy to say we are
living for heaven. The way that we
use our money demonstrates the veracity of our claim. Are we living for the kingdom or do the things of this world
predominate and consume us?
The
cure for avarice is poverty. For
the monk this poverty is absolute.
The true monk owns nothing, having forsaken it all in his pursuit of
God. For those of us who live in
the world, this poverty is approximate.
We have obligations ("mouths to feed, bodies to clothe, shelter to
obtain") and we must fulfill these obligations. Poverty is best approximated in our position by striving to
reduce the amount of our obligations.
What we should be aiming for is the simple life, not deprivation. Severe deprivation can be as
distracting as financial prosperity.
The words of scripture reveal the royal way: "Give me neither
poverty nor riches - - feed me with the food allotted to me, lest I be full and
deny you, and say, `Who is the Lord?'
Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God" (Prov.
30:8,9).
Avarice
1-5 In
these paragraphs John describes Avarice and the avaricious man. His words are brief but full of insight
and strike to the heart of the matter.
They ask us: "Do we trust in God or do we trust in the things
of this world?" "Do we believe that God can and
will take care of our needs if we seek first his kingdom?" "Does the future belong to him or to
our financial planner?"
"Do we claim that we are prudent and discerning in our use of our
money and possessions as a cover for our lack of faith?"
Avarice
is the worship of idols and is the offspring of unbelief. It makes excuses for infirmity and is
the mouthpiece of old age. It is
the prophet of hunger, and the herald of drought.
The
miser sneers at the gospel and is a deliberate transgressor. The man of charity spreads his money
about him, but the man who claims to possess both charity and money is a
self-deceived fool.
A
generous man met a miser, and the miser said the other man was without
discernment.
6 This
issue is truly a spiritual one. If
we worship worldly goods, we won't truly worship God. The more we have, the more complicated our lives
become. The more things we own,
the more we have to worry about their care and preservation. All of these issues, although not
sinful and wrong, may work to distract us and keep us from pursuing the one
thing which alone is needful. The
less cares we have the more we can pursue God undistractedly.
The
man who has conquered this vice has cut out care, but the man trapped by it can
never pray freely to God.
7 In
addition to making our lives more difficult and spiritually distracting,
material possessions also can make us insensitive to the needs of others around
us. It seems that the more we have
the less we are inclined to give away.
The
pretext of almsgiving is the start of avarice, and the finish is detestation of
the poor. The collector is stirred
by charity, but, when the money is in, the grip tightens.
8 John
teaches here that material poverty and living among those who are poor in
spirit can eventually make one rich spiritually. A monk gradually learns how poverty leads him to acknowledge
his dependence upon God and to reach out to Him. In doing so he discovers a treasure greater than anything
this world can offer.
I
have seen the poverty-stricken grow rich and forget their want, through living
with the poor in spirit.
9 One
driven by avarice is never subject to tedium of spirit; that is, spiritual
boredom. The reason for this is
clear: They have no spiritual life to begin with. The spirit of avarice drives them to work excessively,
taking them away from their spiritual labors and the silence and solitude of
prayer.
The
monk who is greedy for money is a stranger to tedium of spirit. Always he turns over within himself the
words of the Apostle: "The man who does not work does not eat"
(Thess. 3:10) and, "These hands of mine have served me and those who were
with me" (Acts 20:34).
Poverty
1-7 John
begins by defining poverty. The
one who embraces poverty is truly free - a slave to no one and no thing. Such poverty concerns not only one's
possessions, but one's will. Obedience
is the truest and most personal form of poverty. The greater the renunciation the more pure one's prayer
becomes and one's hunger for the things of heaven. John warns, however, that poverty not offered or directed to
God simply leaves one destitute.
If we do not turn to God in this poverty we simply remain empty.
The
poverty of a monk is resignation from care. It is a life without anxiety and travels light, far from
sorrow and faithful to the commandments.
The poor monk is lord of the world. He has handed his cares over to God, and by his faith has
obtained all men as his servants.
If he lacks something he does not complain to his fellows and he accepts
what comes his way as if from the hand of the Lord. In his poverty he turns into a son of detachment and he sets
no value on what he has. Having
withdrawn from the world, he comes to regard everything as refuse. Indeed he is not genuinely poor if he
starts to worry about something.
A
man who has embraced poverty offers up prayer that is pure, while a man who
loves possessions prays to material images.
Those
living in obedience to another are free of all cupidity, for when the body has
been given up, what else is there to call one's own?
The
man who has tasted the things of heaven easily thinks nothing of what is below,
but he who has had no taste of heaven finds pleasure in possessions.
A
man who is poor for no good reason falls into a double misfortune. He goes without present goods and is
deprived of these in the future
The
man who gives up possessions for religious motives is great, but the man who
renounces his will is holy indeed.
The one will earn money or grace a hundred times over, but the other
will inherit eternal life.
8-10 Anger
John tells us is the constant plight of the miserly. With an increase of goods comes the need to protect
them. He who has a lust for
possessions is often willing to use force to obtain them.
Waves
never leave the sea. Anger and
gloom never leave the miserly.
The
man who thinks nothing of goods has freed himself from quarrels and
disputes. But the lover of
possessions will fight to the death for a needle. Sturdy faith cuts off cares, and remembrance of death denies
the body.
Avarice
is said to be the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10), and it is so because it causes
hatred, theft, envy, separations, hostility, stormy blasts, remembrance of past
wrongs, inhuman acts and even murder.
11-14 The
saving virtue in the struggle with avarice is detachment. This is attained when one's experience
and taste for the things of heaven increases. The more one longs for the imperishable, the less he will
cling to what is passing and corruptible.
A
small fire can burn down an entire forest. But one virtue can help many to escape all the vices
mentioned above. That virtue is detachment, which is a withdrawal from all evil
desires, and which grows from experience and taste of the knowledge of God and
from a meditation on the account to be rendered at death.
This
is the seventeenth step. He who has climbed it is traveling to heaven
unburdened by material things.
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