The Economical Crisis Is The Result Of Greed

29/11/2011

The faithful who attended the Divine Liturgy could listen to the Gospel fragment on the rich ruler, a two millennia old text, but very topical, because it shows the correct attitude of the man towards the material goods.

In the context of the crisis we pass through, the deeper understanding of this evangelical story can help normalise the situation, because the economical financial crisis we pass through at present is the result of greed, as His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel showed in the sermon delivered yesterday, 27 November, at the Patriarchal Cathedral – as “Lumina” newspaper informs us.

The Gospel fragment read on the 30th Sunday after the Pentecost focused on wealth as obstacle in the way of salvation and of the Christian improvement, as we can notice in the discussion of Christ, our Saviour, with a young rich man who although faithful and virtuous, concerned to reach eternal life, was not generous but enslaved by his wealth.

In the sermon delivered yesterday, in the Cathedral, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel explained that whenever man is passionately fond of the temporary material things, he can no longer be fond of the eternal things, because wealth becomes an idol for him which he keeps hidden in his soul, affecting his salvation through selfish isolation and indifference to the needs of his fellow beings. The many riches that we passionately love become an obstacle in the way of the merciful love for the fellow beings. If we are generous, wealth helps us save ourselves. Wealth is not bad in itself, like poverty, but it can be an obstacle in the way of salvation if we are not merciful. Poverty can be an obstacle too unless we ask for the help of God and rebel against Him, if we envy those who own material goods, and steal because we are poor. Wealth passionately kept brings about lots of troubles: arguments in the family, fights among relatives and even murders; it is also greed for material things and money that causes wars of invasion due to the desire to rule over others and take their goods. The economical financial crisis we pass through at present is the result of the banks’ greed for money, of the financial system and of the trans-national corporations. All these forms of greed make the basis of the economical financial crisis, because unlimited greed of some people becomes the painful poverty of others. The excessive greed for wealth brings about lack of balance and injustice in society, also said His Beatitude.

The merciful man changes the earthly treasures into heavenly ones.

The Patriarch of Romania has also shown that it is only through generosity that the temporary material wealth can be changed or transfigured into a heavenly eternal treasure. It is through merciful love, through generosity, that the material treasures can be changed into the treasure of good deeds, which becomes the light of the merciful soul. After he parts with the material world, it is only this treasure of the heart, of the merciful love, that remains eternal, which accompanies man in the Kingdom of Heaven. When we pass from this world into the after world we take with us only what we have gathered in our soul, namely lowliness, kindness, mercy, love for God and for our fellow beings, which becomes the light of our soul, showed Patriarch Daniel.

His Beatitude has also explained that unless the rich man can change himself by his own will, he must ask for the help of the grace of God because it is only God that can change our way of thinking, feeling and acting when we become too passionate, too enslaved by selfish passions.

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