8th Sunday 2014 - Pagola/ Vally D

EIGHTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A) 2 March 2014

Mt.6: 24-34

NO TO THE IDOLATRY OF MONEY

José Antonio Pagola

Money, now become an  absolute idol, is for Jesus the greatest enemy of a dignified, just and united world God wants. It is twenty centuries since the Prophet of Galilee denounced, in no uncertain terms, the fact that  the worship of money will be the major obstacle humanity will find to make progress towards a more humane coexistence.

   The reasoning of Jesus is compelling: “You cannot serve God and money.” God cannot reign in the world and be the Father of all without demanding  justice for those who are excluded from a life of dignity. Hence those who are dominated by the passion to accumulate wealth cannot work for that more humane world God wants for they promote an economy that excludes the weakest and abandons them to suffer hunger and misery.

   What’s happening with the coming of Pope Francis is surprising. While the media and social networks that operate through the internet inform us with all kinds of details of the smallest gestures of his admirable personality, his most urgent call to the whole of Humanity is glossed over in a shameful way: “No to an economy of exclusion and iniquity. That kind of economy kills.”

   However, Francis does not need long arguments or deep analysis to explain his thought. He knows how to summarize his indignation in clear expressive words that could open the news section of any newspaper, or make headlines in any country. Just a few examples.

   It’s not possible that the death from cold of an old man on the streets does not make news while the fall of two points of the stock market does. This is exclusion. It’s intolerable that food is thrown out while there are people who go hungry. That is criminal.

   We live “in the dictatorship of a faceless economy without a truly human purpose.” As a result, while the  profits of a few grow exponentially, those of the majority remain increasingly further away from  the well being of that happy minority.”

   The culture of well being anaesthizes us and we lose our peace if the market offers something we haven’t yet bought, while all those lives cut short for want of possibilities seem to be a show that in no way changes us.

   As he himself said: “this message isn’t marxism  but pure Gospel.” It’s a message that must have a lasting echo in our Christian communities. Otherwise  it would be a sign of what the Pope says: “We are becoming incapable of sympathizing with the cries of others; we no longer weep at the tragedy of others.”