{"id":25910,"date":"2025-10-06T07:10:59","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T11:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25910"},"modified":"2025-10-06T08:16:48","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T12:16:48","slug":"25910","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25910","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Pretender | Jackson Browne | Lyrics \u263e\u2600\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2ROK1-VvOQ0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mammon Illness<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Fr. Richard considers Jesus\u2019 challenging statement that we cannot serve both God and money.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of us, myself included, have a confused, guilt-ridden, obsessive attitude about money. There\u2019s hardly anybody who can think in a clear-headed way about it. At the end of Luke\u2019s parable of the so-called dishonest steward, Jesus creates a clear dualism between God and wealth, or what he calls \u201cmammon\u201d: \u201cYou cannot serve God and mammon\u201d (Luke 16:13). Mammon was the god of wealth, money, superficiality, and success. Jesus says, in effect, \u201cYou\u2019ve finally got to make a choice.\u201d <strong>Most of Jesus\u2019 teaching is what I call nondual, but there are a few areas where he\u2019s absolutely dualistic (either-or), and it\u2019s usually anything having to do with power and anything having to do with money.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus is absolute about money and power because he knows what we\u2019re going to do. Most of us will serve this god called mammon. Luke\u2019s Gospel even describes mammon as a type of illness, as Jesuit John Haughey explained: \u201cMammon is not simply a neutral term in Luke. It is not simply money. It connotes disorder\u2026. Mammon becomes then a source of disorder because people allow it to make a claim on them that only God can make.\u201d [1] \u201c<strong>Mammon illness\u201d takes over when we witness all of life through the lens of short-term practical gains. <\/strong>We have to acknowledge that money does have the ability to serve\u2014or solve\u2014many of our short-term problems, but once we begin hoarding it, collecting it, multiplying it, and saving it, we become preoccupied with it. Let\u2019s be honest about that.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this Gospel, I hear Jesus inviting us to think of a long-term solution.&nbsp;<em>T<\/em><strong><em>o participate in the reign of God, we have to stop counting.<\/em>&nbsp;We have to stop weighing, measuring, and deserving in order to let the flow of forgiveness and love flow through us.<\/strong> The love of God can\u2019t be doled out by any process whatsoever. We can\u2019t earn it. We can\u2019t lose it. As long as we stay in this world of earning and losing, we\u2019ll live in perpetual resentment, envy, or climbing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Religion <strong>cannot work from a calculator without losing its very method, mind, foundation, and source<\/strong>. Surely this is what Jesus meant by his statement in Luke\u2019s Gospel. Perhaps if we say it a bit differently, we can all get the point: \u201cYou cannot move around inside the world of infinite grace and mercy, and at the same time be counting and measuring with your overly defensive and finite little mind.\u201d It would be like asking an ant to map the galaxies. St. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se of Lisieux put it much more directly to a nun worried about God keeping track of her many failings: \u201cThere is a science about which [God] knows nothing\u2014addition!\u201d [2] The reign of God is a worldview of abundance.<strong> God lifts us up from a worldview of scarcity to infinity<\/strong>. Remember every part of infinity is still infinite! God\u2019s love is nothing less than infinite.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Redefining Security<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>[The rich man] said, \u201cI will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.\u201d<br>\u2014Luke 12:18\u201319&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian McLaren reflects on Jesus\u2019 Parable of the Rich Fool (<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-gvtdyk-tlkriywur-j\/\"><em>Luke 12:15\u201321<\/em><\/a><em>) as a critique of our reliance on money for security:&nbsp;<\/em><em>&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This man epitomizes the confidence and narcissism of a civilization\u2026. He talks to himself about himself, and neither listens to nor thinks of anyone else\u2026. He asks himself what to do to maintain stability, to keep the system going, to keep the growth in GDP flowing, so he can take it easy, party, and chill. He tells himself the answer <strong>(wealth is the ultimate echo chamber):&nbsp;<em>Grow! Build bigger barns to hoard more stuff<\/em>\u2026.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A collapse in the rich man\u2019s health interrupts his schemes for wealth&#8230;. He was rich, yes, filthy rich in a certain selfish sense. But rich toward God? Rich in wisdom to remember that he is a candle, that life is a gift, and that his flame will someday go out? Rich in caring about others, especially the poor and vulnerable, so beloved of God? He proves utterly bankrupt in all these departments. He is forever known as the rich fool\u2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Every system of self-centered civilization with its barns and banks for hoarding will inevitably collapse, the story of the rich fool reminds us. Meanwhile, \u2026 <strong>the divine ecosystem of interdependence and sharing, the holy and harmonious arrangement of life in which wildflowers and ravens live and thrive \u2026 it goes on. That\u2019s where to put your heart. That\u2019s where to invest your inner energies:<\/strong>&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father\u2019s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. <strong>Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out,<\/strong> an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also [Luke 12:32\u201334]&#8230;.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>So, Jesus says, liquidate your capitol in the fragile, failing human system. Reinvest your energies in the larger-than-human system of life. That\u2019s why loving your neighbors, especially your poor neighbors, is so important. <strong>Better to have less stored in your bank account and more given to those in need.<\/strong> Better to be poor in money and rich in generous relationships\u2026. If you love God and neighbor, you love what matters \u2026 unlike the rich fool, who loved only himself and his money\u2026.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If your heart is fully invested in the rich fool\u2019s economy, the judgment that is passed upon that system is passed upon you\u2026. But<strong> if you withdraw your consent from the rich man\u2019s human system of wealth, if you transfer your trust to the larger system, if you seek first and foremost the divine ecosystem, you will end up with everything you need.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mammon Illness Fr. Richard considers Jesus\u2019 challenging statement that we cannot serve both God and money.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Many of us, myself included, have a confused, guilt-ridden, obsessive attitude about money. There\u2019s hardly anybody who can think in a clear-headed way about it. At the end of Luke\u2019s parable of the so-called dishonest steward, Jesus creates a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25910"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25910"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25917,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25910\/revisions\/25917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}