We continue with our description of the virtues this weekend. Last Sunday, we looked at the great sin of pride and its corrective virtue humility. This weekend, we take up the vice of avarice, which represents an inordinate craving or desire for the things of this world, specifically for riches and the possibility these provide for luxury. When we think of greed, we usually think of food and taking advantage of a large table. But there’s a little more to it. There is little need in our day and age to spend much time describing avarice. We can all see expensive cars driving by with enormous engines that cannot be used well on our narrow roads, and we can see the beautiful homes that cost far more than some of us can imagine. And we all know of people, sometimes those dear to us, who accumulate and continue to accumulate, with no other end but the accumulating itself.
The Christian tradition sees the good things of this world as the means or instruments for the living of a virtuous life (according to our station in life, of course) but how easy it is to go overboard and begin to hoard. There are numerous references to the sin of avarice in the Gospel stories; we hear there of the rich man and Lazarus, we hear of the rich landowner who hoards into his barn but dies soon after, we hear of the young man who fulfilled the Law of Moses perfectly but could not let go of his riches, we hear of the sneering of the treacherous Apostle Judas when S. Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of our Lord with costly ointment. And we hear of the notoriety of the tax-collectors like Zacchaeus, who were generally seen as great sinners and unworthy of society; here we also encounter the injustices that can be involved in the amassing of wealth – this is why the tax-collectors of the day were despised.
We could say that the opposite of this – as given also by the gospels – is charity and generosity of soul. We may also add to that a spirit of detachment from the things of this world, so that we aren’t constantly yearning to acquire and to hoard. Charity is the habit of valuing God above all the beautiful things of His Creation, and then of loving ourselves and our neighbours for His sake. If we love somebody or some people for their own sake alone, and without any theological rationale, there is great merit in this as well, for it is an extension of the human virtue of justice, but true charity refers to the personal dignity and the rights due to a particular individual – and for Christians that human worth is a result of the image of God given to the children of men. The requirement and ideal of charity in the Christian religion is superlative – Christ asks us to love even our enemies – charity requires the utmost respect even for those who hate and destroy us, and is best described by the Body of the Holy One hanging upon His cross.
“And forthwith Jesus obliged His disciples to go up into the boat, and to go before Him over the water, till He dismissed the people. And having dismissed the multitude, He went into a mountain alone to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone. But the boat in the midst of the sea was tossed with the waves: for the wind was contrary. And in the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking upon the sea. And they seeing Him walk upon the sea, were troubled, saying, ‘It is an apparition.’ And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good heart: it is I, fear ye not.’ And Peter making answer, said, ‘Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters.’ And He said, ‘Come.’ And Peter going down out of the boat, walked upon the water to come to Jesus. But seeing the wind strong, he was afraid, and when he began to sink, he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me.’ And immediately Jesus stretching forth His hand took hold of him, and said to him, ‘O thou of little faith, why didst thou doubt?’ And when they were come up into the boat, the wind ceased. And they that were in the boat came and adored Him, saying, ‘Indeed Thou art the Son of God.'”
Gospel of S. Matthew, 14: 22-33 [link]
Our readings this weekend seem to be united by the command of God over the elements of nature – here the weather. We Christians have a basic understanding of this already, but we have to look a little further than the literal meaning of the text, to locate that trust in God that we must have even in the midst of the turmoil in our lives. This is not only about the storm or rough sea in Galilee as much as it is the difficulty of living the Christian life in a world that despises it.
“I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great sadness, and continual sorrow in my heart. For I wished myself to be an anathema from Christ, for my brethren, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongeth the adoption as of children, and the glory, and the Testament, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.”
Letter of S. Paul to the Romans, 9: 1-5 [link]
If we are called to the greatest extent of Charity, we are also tested on that charity on a daily basis, even by the people we love the most. S. Paul in the second reading (above) declares his great love for his fellow-Jews, his brethren, his kinsmen… even as these were trying hard to destroy him for his conversion to Christ.
“And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb. And when he was come thither, he abode in a cave: and behold the word of the Lord came unto him, and He said to him, ‘What dost thou here, Elias?’ And he answered, ‘With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken Thy covenant: they have thrown down Thy altars, they have slain Thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they seek my life to take it away.’ And He said to him, ‘Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord, and behold the Lord passeth, and a great and strong wind before the Lord over throwing the mountains, and breaking the rocks in pieces, the Lord is not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, the Lord is not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, the Lord is not in the fire, and after the fire a whistling of a gentle air. And when Elias heard it, he covered his face with his mantle, and coming forth stood in the entering in of the cave…”
Third book of the Kings (aka. first book of the Kings), 19: 8-13 [link]
The prophet Elijah in this our first reading was fleeing from the murderous rage of Jezebel the queen and sought the peace of the mountain of God at Horeb, where Moses had received the ten commandments. He found God there, not in earthquake and fire, but in the whisper of a breeze. In the gospel story, the Apostles of Christ discovered for themselves the eternal Whisper that brought all things into being, as the Ancient of days now in human form approached them, walking over the choppy waters.
S. Peter is rather bold, and I think he would advise us to be just as bold as we step out of the boat onto the stormy seas of these lives we live, to fear not the evils that surround us and threaten our faith – threaten to sink us, but rather to reach out continually towards the hand of the Holy One reached out to support us.
Catholic Louth and Mablethorpe 