Sixth Wednesday in Lent.
AVARICE.
1. Avarice or Covetousness is a disorderly and unreasonable and excessive attachment to the things of this world, especially to money.
Now the love of the good things of this world is by no means sinful in itself, it is legitimate. God gives them to us to enjoy. God gives to us earthly things to be possessions, to keep, and to enlarge, and multiply. To throw away wantonly what has been given to us is sinful. For instance, it is sinful to squander money in extravagance, in horse racing, in gambling. Riches are a trust, land and houses are a trust, given us from God, and we must not diminish what we have received, in amount and value, but endeavour to make them more. It is a token of gratitude to God for this gift that we appreciate them, and use them profitably.
2. Worldly goods are given to us to satisfy the necessities of life, not only in the matter of eating, and drinking, and clothing, but of our mental and spiritual life also. Our worldly goods are given to us to enable us to cultivate art, and science, and literature, all that goes towards the furtherance of the amenities of life: music, painting, architecture, sculpture, horticulture, &c.
Worldly goods are given to us that with them we may do what we can to mitigate the miseries of the poor and suffering, and to advance God’s Kingdom, and enrich and adorn His Sanctuaries and His Service. Consequently we are using our riches aright when we seek out means of relieving distress, when we assist in the propagation of the Gospel among the heathen, and when we build and decorate Churches, and provide for the beautiful musical rendering of the worship of God.
3. Avarice is a mortal vice when we:—
(a) Desire the good things of this world for the sole gratification they yield to our senses, when they minister to our luxury. When we love them for a selfish reason, and value them only as they minister to the comfort, ease, indulgence, and pampering of self.
(b) Avarice is a sin when we desire the good things of this world inordinately. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John ii. 15, 16.)
Excessive love of the things of this world becomes idolatry. (Eph. v. 6.)
(c) Avarice is a sin when it agitates the mind, and occupies it with excessive anxiety after the good things of this world. “Take no thought for the morrow,” says our Lord, “for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.” “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. vi. 33, 34.) That is to say, the mind is to be mainly occupied with the true end oflife, and strain for that, and the striving after all material interests must be kept in subordination to that.
(d) Avarice, or Covetousness, has several daughters. It produces in man—1.Callousnessto distress. He loses feeling for the distress of the poor and suffering. He begrudges everything given to them as something taken from himself. 2.Dishonesty.In order to increase wealth, the Conscience is hushed to pass over certain fraudulent or dishonest acts whereby money may be gained unfairly, by false representation, by selling a thing at what is beyond its worth, &c. 3.Unrest.The mind is engrossed by the cares and anxieties of the pursuit of wealth, so that no good seed can grow in it. The calm and peace of a Conscience at rest in God pursuing the true end is gone, and is replaced by constant uneasiness as to how certain speculations will turn out, what profit will come from a certain sale, or how certain losses are to be made up.
Simple Maltese Cross