From the Director - Money and mission

Columban Fr Gary WalkerIn his book 60 More Seasonal Homilies, celebrated American preacher Fr William Bausch remarks that the whole Bible offers:

  • 500 verses on prayer
  • Fewer than 500 verses on faith
  • More than 2000 verses on money and possessions

Money and possessions are important but do they affect our relationship with God?

As a seminarian in Sydney, I came to know people who lived near the seminary in what was a fairly wealthy area of Sydney. I realised how hard these people worked for their rewards which to me seemed to be substantial. They worked long hours in roles of pressure and often travelled interstate and overseas for business meetings. I wondered was there any time for family life? Was there time for rest and relaxation? And more importantly, was there any time for a relationship with God?

I pondered the following questions for many years: Do we control our money or does it control us? Does it distract us from God?

There are many ways in which we can lose our way in our relationship with God. Money or possessions is one that the Bible singles out. But not all wealthy people have their lives out of balance, many are generous and philanthropic.

The late Archbishop Helder Camara from Recife, Brazil, wrote that as a child he thought Christ might have been exaggerating when he warned about the dangers of money (the parable of the rich man and the poor man at the gate begging for food comes to mind, Luke 16:19). But in later life he came to the conclusion that it was hard to be rich and keep the milk of human kindness. He added that money had a way of putting scales on one’s eyes, a dangerous way of freezing people’s eyes, lips, hands and hearts.

I understand what he means now. Paradoxically, very poor people and wealthy people can have one thing in common, they both work very hard and long hours: one to survive, the other for a large reward.

This brings me to money and mission. The Missionary Society of St Columban will be 100 years old in 2018. We would not have survived for very long without the generous support of our benefactors.
 
As Columban missionaries, we have been blessed with benefactors who support our work out of their relationship with God in Jesus. Generous hearts imitate what Jesus did himself, their generosity flows out to others.


Fr Gary Walker SSC
director@columban.org.au

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