Wednesday 12 April 2017

MONEY AND CHRISTIANS

Image result for jesus and money


JESUS NEVER SAID IT WAS WRONG TO HAVE MONEY OR ENJOY THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE.

He did say:

"It is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle".

And what he meant by that was NOT that it is wrong to have money or the finer things in life - BUT that if you have money and the finer things in life and DO NOT SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE WITH OTHERS WHO HAVE NOT you will find it hard to get into heaven.

In fact it is a GOOD THING to be RICH!

Because the more you have the more you can give to others!

A poor person will have little to share with others.

A rich person will have a lot to share with others.

So in THAT SENSE - it is a blessing to have a lot and to be rich.

Let me tell you a story:

One of the most lavish weddings I have celebrated in the last 30 years was for an American billionaire. It last 4 days and took place at a 5* venue in Ireland.

The guests were brought to Ireland for the wedding in a hired Jumbo Jet.

A whole orchestra played the music at the wedding.

The wine at the top table on the day of the wedding was Chateau Petrus from the Pomerol in France and cost thousands of pounds per bottle.




The hotel bill for the complete wedding (excluding the Jumbo) was something like £500,000.

Extravagant? Yes.

But the best man told me a story in the bar on the night of the wedding that greatly impressed me.

Apart from paying his 20,000 employees very generous salaries - the groom - every year - built 50 new homes and handed those houses over - deeds and all - to 25 poor black families and 25 poor white families in the USA.




The man also donated vast sums of money to various charities each year.

So here you had a VERY rich man enjoying the finer things in life - BUT ALSO SHARING HIS WEALTH with others who were not as well off.

Let him enjoy his wine, his cigars and his billionaire lifestyle I say.

As long as he shares his good fortune with others.

By the way this billionaire was himself born into abject poverty and started life as a tea boy on a building site in one of the US's larger cities. 

Being a Christian (and my billionaire did not claim a Christian) is NOT about what you have.

It's about what YOU DO with WHAT YOU HAVE!

All of us have varied wealth and possessions.

Christianity does not call upon us to become destitute and to live homeless on a park bench.

It simply calls upon us to share what we have with others.

Money itself is a neutral thing. It is how it is used that makes it good or bad.





41 comments:

  1. This billionaire may not have claimed to be a Christian, Bishop Pat, but the fact that he had you officiate at his wedding does suggests that he was.

    I feel very uneasy at your conclusions from what appears to be obscene, narcissistic self-indulgence: hedonism overdosed on 'speed'. (No, it isn't envy speaking.)

    That the billionare gives lavishly to others on occasion deserves, on one level, a mighty hurrah or two, but it may not be so fine as you think: what matters really is not how much we give, but from HOW much love we give. It is why Jesus was able to claim of the poor widow in the Temple that she, from her poverty, had put in more than all the rich donors, since she had given everything she had, whereas they had merely contributed from their 'plenty'. They had expended their wealth, but not themselves.

    This billionaire gives from his colossal plenty. Back-slappingly impressive, on the face of it. But perhaps not so impressive to God: he judges not by gestures, but by motives.

    What was the billionaire's motive? Was it generosity? Or was it that he had so much wealth that parting with a portion of it was just another act of reckless self-indulgence rather than a show of kindness? I don't know, as I have no window on his soul. But might the billionaire love himself more than he should and others far less than he could? Remember love is not limited by degree or object; it never proclaims of itself 'enough!'. If it is and does, then it is human love (not divine), predicated not on others, but on itself. If the tree is known by its fruit, then the fruit here seems a disappointing crop for such a gargantuan tree.

    We cannot buy a place in Heaven, however much and often we donate to others. Norman knights thought they could, which is why they sometimes financed the building of abbeys in Normandy, England, Ireland and elsewhere. A good way to appease God for their bloody rampaging; a ticket to Paradise. Or so they thought. (The commercialisation of redemption has taken Catholicism down some awful side-roads in its history.)

    Whatever the truth about that billionaire, the currency of redemption is love, not financial largesse. God wants our hearts, not our wealth.

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  2. Well Pat we all know what you do with what you have - little thought IT be.

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  3. If he spent 1 billion in his will on masses for his soul in Purgatory, would that help him on his way to heaven?

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    Replies
    1. So Purgatory doesn't exist?

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    2. I meant to ask if you believed in Purgatory. If you do, can other people help you through it by their prayers or by celebrating mass for you?

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    3. Look up purgatory in the Catechism and that will tell you all you need to know or Google it.

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    4. Catherine of Genoa wrote a treatise on purgatory. She said the soul wants to stay in purgatory as it does not feel ready for heaven. Whilst there God lovingly removes all it's sins, until it is ready to join the saints in heaven. (A bit like washing a dirty child before a party)

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    5. Purgatory is a human construct to describe a state of mind. Life is a journey into truth so purgatory can exist in this life or the next. We invent the terminology. God permits the reality

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    6. To Jane - - The ownership "its" should not have an apostrophe.

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  4. Sounds like a generous person. Thing with lots of cash is that some can become removed from reality and loose sight of God and the world. Jesus gave us the great example of washing his disciples feet. He gave us the most precious gift of all. Himself.

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  5. Even though you are talking sense here, Lady Carta, you still come over as an obnoxious, self-righteous, smug, prissy old prig.

    From most of your other "offerings" and pronouncements on this blog, there isn't much of the Divine Love you wax so lyrically about in your own boastful and puffed up little heart.

    Charity and kindness begin with you too, Maggie. Maybe if you spent a bit less time ranting and rattling on your keyboard, screaming "fool" at people - and out doing a bit of good yourself?

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    Replies
    1. Er, get a life...preferably away from your keyboard.

      You do type such drivel, old bean. (Guffaw, guffaw)

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  6. 09.22
    Bravo, bravo. Concur with you 100%. Ha ha ha.

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  7. Agree with Magna...
    Wealth like that was definitely ill gained
    Always was , always will be.
    Horrible blog today , Pat
    Words fail me.

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  8. I hope Magna Carta - starts to pay back the church for the waste of funds spent on him. Im sure the poor people wouldn't want a penny back if the formation he received while training helped him - but it seems from his comments - NOT. Dublin PP

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    1. 'PP'? Would that be 'pretentious prick'?

      No offence. Just wonderin'.

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    2. @Magna Carta
      LOL very good (and accurate)

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    3. What was that you were saying about 'Love' earlier Magna Carta? You don't seem to show much of it on here. Empty cheap and insincere words.

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    4. But I do show some, like everyone else in death's ante-room.

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  9. Yes, agree with 10.12, pay back the money bitch. While your at it darling take that huge plank from your eye - that's a good girl.

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    1. You're one of the seminary queens, aren't you 10:31?

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    2. I believe that the post at 10.31 should say "While you're at it.." This is because the "you're" is a shortened form of "you are" in this sentence and the apostrophe is the there to indicate that a letter has been left out.. (Why is this so difficult for some to grasp?)

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  10. May the Lord have mercy on your soul

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  11. Pat+ what services have you at the oratory for Easter ?

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  12. Any word on the missing priests of Galway Pat

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  13. All this girly stuff becomes sad after a while. Quite hurtful too I imagine

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    Replies
    1. All the girly stuff and bitchiness only emerges on here when Magna Farta shouts his mouth off.

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    2. MourneManMichael13 April 2017 at 17:34

      There appears to be at least one regular contributor with a big buzzing bee in his/her bonnet in relation to Magna Carta. Some of his/her criticisms appear directed at the individual rather than MC'c posts, and can be said to be of the snide category.
      He she is certainly entitled to an opinion, and equally so am I when I say I find those all to regular snide type contributions rather distasteful.
      In saying this I am not defending MC. In fact I find some of his/her contributions show both a considerable breadth of intellect and learning, but also a certain disdain for those less gifted. (Some may say their evident hostility deserve his broadsides!)
      I've been reluctant up to now to 'get involved' in this 'to and fro' over MC, and will make no further comment than this one, other that to underline that I, for one, much prefer less of the ad hominem arguements.
      MMM

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    3. If you find the comments distasteful MMM there is a simple solution - don't read them.

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    4. MMM Right as always. Comments aimed at persons as opposed to content are in bad taste

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    5. You only agree with Magna Carta because he always likes your sad comments Page.

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  14. Chrism mass at the Pro Cathedral Dublin - any sign of baby Georgous?????

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    1. Who cares!! Such a bore...

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  15. Pat, you and these fancy hotels?! What's going on?!

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  16. Health and safety at its best on that roof lol

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  17. http://www.procathedral.ie/ - Look at the livefeed now - front row on the left - Our brother who was lost is found.

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    1. Who are you talking about?

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  18. Magna - should do the decent thing and return diocese funds !

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