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.”
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