Friday of the
Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time
(I Timothy 6:2c-12; Luke 8:1-3)
A cartoon shows a fat corporate executive describing a
recent business decision. “It was a
matter,” he says, “of either losing a friend or losing money.” No doubt is left as to which of the two the
tycoon values more.
However, the New Testament repeatedly indicates that money
makes a lousy friend. In Luke’s gospel
Jesus often warns against the accumulation of wealth. Still, as today’s passage indicates, he and
his disciples had needs which the women’s money met. Perhaps Scripture is nowhere more wary of
money than in the first reading. We
should note, however, that First Timothy does not condemn money itself as the
root of evil but “the love of money.”
Should charities accept money from patently sinful
sources? Much good can be done with
so-called tainted money, but then virtue’s kissing vice leaves many people
morally bewildered. Scandal must be
avoided, but at times thieves make reparation for their crimes by privately reciprocating
institutions that care for the needy.
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