Letter #32: Money the Root of All Evil

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Letter #32: Money the Root of All Evil

[2011-10-03]

[Engleză]

Feast of the Guardian Angels

For October 2, there are readings from Sacred Scripture on the three-fold office of angels: to praise God, to act as His messengers, and to watch over mortal men.

"Let us praise the Lord whom the Angels praise, whom the Cherubim and Seraphim proclaim Holy, Holy, Holy" (second antiphon of Lauds)

"Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared. Take notice of him, and hear his voice" (Exodus 23; capitulum ad Laudes)

"See that you despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven." (Gospel, St. Matthew 18:10)

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The Love of Money, and its Cost

“For the love of money is the root of all evil.” ("Radix omnium malorum cupiditas est," St. Paul's Letter to Timothy, 6:10)

Twice Angry

Jesus became angry on only two occasions in scripture.

Once, regarding those who "offend" little children, abusing them, ending their innocence, wounding them spiritually and psychologically. It would be better for those who did such things, he said, if they would have a millstone placed around their necks and be thrown into to sea to certain death by drowning.

He could not have been more clear.

The second occasion, of course, was when he picked up the whip in the Temple precincts, and overturned the tables of the money-changers, declaring "You have taken the house of God and turned it into a den of thieves."

(Not by chance, I think, he was dead a few days later. He had offended powerful people.)

So there were only two occasions which sparked his righteous anger: abuse of children, and abuse of financial dealings in the Temple precincts.

So why bring up money? And why now?

Because it is important right now.

St. Paul says, the "love of money" is "the root of all evil."

The "love of money" leads to trickery, deception, oppression, and misery, and then to violence and war.

If we wish to be "peacemakers," we must confront the problem of money, the problem of the love of money, and create laws and structures that can bring as much justice as possible into economic affairs -- with the result being, not Utopia, not heaven on earth, but slightly more common good, general prosperity, and peace.

We all know there is something amiss in our globalized economy, and in our current monetary system.

We know that there are floods of "money" in our world. (I put the word in quotes, because most of our money is not money at all, but debt, that is, it doesn't exist except as a promise from somebody else to be made good at some future time.)

We also know there is at the same time a shortage of "money" everywhere -- Greece can't pay the debts it owes, nor can millions of home owners, who have defaulted on their mortgages and lost their homes, nor can many businesses obtain loans to expand, and so forth.

So there are rivers of money, and deserts with no money.

Is this a matter for a Catholic journalist to follow? Yes. Of course. Without a doubt.

The social teaching of the Church is not as theologically defined as the dogmas of the faith (Cardinal Ratzinger makes the same point in the 1985 talk of his that I reprint below), but the essential dynamic of that teaching, that we must seek justice, that God loves justice, that justice and charity are the distinguishing marks of people who follow Christ, these are fundamental truths -- even if what we should do, precisely, in specific circumstances, is often very hard to discern.

The essential message of Pope Benedict during his recent trip to Germany is that Germany's politicians must seek justice, as I wrote yesterday.

And justice cannot be reconciled with trickery, deception, thievery, oppression -- financial practices which steal from people the fruits of their labors.

Nevertheless, we have an economic system today which seems unusually marked by injustice, by fraud, deception, opaque financial maneuvers, derivative contracts in the trillions that can move markets in moments, even taking down entire national economies.

This is not justice, it is savagery. (sav·age·ry, n. pl. sav·age·ries. 1. The quality or condition of being savage. 2. An act of violent cruelty. 3. Savage behavior or nature; barbarity)

This is a reflection of a "love of money" which is "the root of all evil."

And the result of evil is misery, not blessedness, for people. "The wages of sin are... death."

If our various markets crash, if the savings of millions vanish overnight, if unemployment increases relentlessly, we must act to restore our community, and restore justice.

Human beings created this system, and they can change and correct it, even if it collapses.

This means -- we always have hope. There is no need to yield to despair, to fear...

Pope Benedict has long meditated on these matters.

He is not known as a great source of social teaching, but in his last encyclical, there was a powerful appeal for a return to reason and justice, before we bring about the collapse of our system, and untold misery.

A Modest Proposal: Haircuts for All

A key element of any just solution to the economic chaos we face would be shared sacrifice, shared losses -- shared suffering.

The essence of "sweet reason" in a chaotic cituation would be for the economic "game" now playing out to be canceled before it finally crushes millions.

Instead of a general collapse, everyone -- bondholders and bondpayers alike -- should "get a haircut." This would mean: everyone loses something, perhaps even a lot, to avoid a worse result: a few gaining all and most ending with nothing.

In coming days, we could see dramatic moves in our financial markets -- it is October again, and October is a time for market crashes.

There are rumors and fears -- and hopes, for those on the other side of certain trades -- that the Euro as a currency will crash and burn.

There are rumors that Germany has already decided to leave the Euro framework, and reinstate the German mark as its currency. Here is a link to one such rumor: http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/09/super-hot-insider-reports-germany.html

This report says that the news to expect in coming days includes:

—Greece defaults

—Germany protects German banks but other countries cannot do the same, thus quickly provoking multiple sovereign defaults and or bank failures, all of which may easily lead to a payments crisis in the global banking system. Derivatives are particularly at risk in terms of operation and execution.

—The Euro falls in value especially against the US dollar

—The Germans announce they are re-introducing the Deutschmark. They have already ordered the new currency and asked that the printers hurry up. The Euro falls even more on any news that Germany is withdrawing from the Euro.

—Legal wrangling begins as to the legality of Germany’s decision. Resolution takes years.

—Germany insists that the Euro continue to exist even they do not use it any longer, suggesting new legal instruments to strengthen European Unification including new EU Treaties.

See: http://www.pippamalmgren.com/77.html

Sursa: www.InsideTheVatican.com

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