When we plan a budget, money seems to be the center of our planning! We make extensive calculations as to where, when and why our money will be spent. We have today to work with, tomorrow to think about and the distant future to consider. We sometimes deal with money needs and disbursement first in our life with everything else coming in second or as an after thought. The world tells us we need gold or it’s equivalent to survive.
If it is to be God’s Will, many of us will have a long life here on this earth. And if we acknowledge God’s Will in our lives, we will realize that without God, we are nothing and can do nothing. Why then do people spend so much of their lives seeking the gold first and giving secondary importance to the spiritual gold needed to attain eternal life?
Although, as modern day Catholics, we do not worship pagan gods, do we ever stop to consider that some of our pursuits are in the nature of idol worship? As responsible parents, we see to the care of our families. The greater of this burden, naturally, falls on the husband and father who needs to earn the living in order to provide for the family. Sometimes it seems that people get caught up in attaining money and material comforts and forget to work on the necessary requirements of the soul. A father’s burden is difficult as he has to balance the material care of his family’s needs with the spiritual nourishment of their souls. The mother has the job of maintaining the home life and reinforcing the nonphysical aspects of preparing their children’s souls for their final judgment day.
Needs is the divisive word here. What one person determines to be a need, may be unimportant to another. Do we judge others by what we want or by what brings them happiness and the hope of heaven? Are the needs we think important required for a successful life here on earth?
Financial situations go up and down. Life has struggles every day, some exceedingly trying, others annoying. What do we use to face this day-to-day crisis of being human beings? Look around and see what people hold most dear. And I will bet it is not usually a prayer and an hour in church!
Life is a search for the gold. We need to decide which gold will improve our life’s situation. Money can certainly ease us through our earthly life but could distract us from our ultimate purpose in life and slide us right past heaven. The road to heaven is not an easy climb whereas downward descents usually go rather quickly and without thought. It is very sad when you hear people say that God doesn’t really want us to struggle. Christ’s life on earth was certainly contrary to that thought!
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