As I mentioned in my last post, my son has been in and out of the hospital, and so I haven’t had as much time to devote to writing these reflections. I wish I did, I think it’s good for me. But Deo gratias, things finally seem to be clearing up, and maybe life will settle down again. Thanks for all your prayers.
St. Dominic, Fra Angelico
There’s an important part of the Bible, the Tradition, and the Magisterium that we in America tend to ignore. It’s often called Catholic Social Thought, and many people who consider themselves orthodox tend to think they can ignore it, based on the assumption that it’s ignorant of the laws of economics. I used to think that way, until I studied what the Church really teaches. I found that it’s neither so stupid nor so optional as I had thought. It’s an important part of letting our faith permeate our lives. And this past Sunday’s readings give a good opportunity to think about it.
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The reading from the prophet Amos is hard hitting. “When will the new moon be over, you ask.” The Old Testament, like traditional Catholicism, had many feasts. Although the main purpose was to worship God, a central part of the practice was to step away from economic work. In addition to the Sabbath, every month (not on the full moon, when the pagans celebrate, but on the new moon), God’s people were to set aside their economic work and focus on God.
The desire to get back to money making highlights what Jesus says in this week’s Gospel: a servant cannot serve two masters. . . . You cannot serve both God and mammon.”
“We will diminish the ephah, add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating.” Alongside defrauding God, the Old Law also forbids defrauding our neighbor. The ephah was the measure for flour; it’s tempting for the seller to give the buyer less than he’s paid for. The shekel was the weight for measuring gold; it’s tempting for the the seller to take more money than the buyer bargained for.
The examples of the fixed scales nicely cut to the heart of Catholic social thought. We can talk about the laws of economics till we’re blue in the face – and actually, the Church acknowledges that social policy should be based on a good understanding of what “works” economically – but alongside those issues, there are moral issues. Free market, sure – but beware the constant temptation to cheat.
The next line pushes the issue a little further: “we will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals; even the refuse of the wheat we will sell.” We saw how the seller can cheat. But the buyer can cheat too. And here’s the real danger: the poor are easy to take advantage of. Enslaving someone “for a pair of sandals” cuts to the heart: when someone is desperate (for clothing, for example – notice Jesus puts clothing the naked alongside feeding the hungry, etc.) they may be willing to be cheated. But it’s still cheating. So too with “the refuse of the wheat”: they might be so starved that they are willing to buy junk – but that doesn’t make it right to take their money.
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The reading from First Timothy is not obviously connected. “God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved.” Well, first, there must be a recognition that there is “one God . . . one mediator . . . Christ Jesus, who gave himself as ransom for all.” At the heart of the “preferential option for the poor” is the recognition that Jesus died for them, too – and where he gave himself as ransom, we should not look for easy profit.
But Paul isn’t primarily talking about all being saved. Actually, “who wills everyone to be saved” is part of saying, “I ask that supplications . . . be offered for everyone.” The point is not that everyone will be saved. The point is that we pray for everyone.
Especially, he says, “for kings and for all in authority.” Well, this isn’t about the poor at all. But it is about social thought: those with power, whether political or economic, need conversion. And we want their conversion, too, so “that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life”: we pray, also, for the right to live Catholic social thought, to live justly.
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In the Gospel, Jesus commends a “dishonest steward for acting prudently.” But it’s a funny “dishonesty”: the “dishonesty” of forgiving debts. Then Jesus says we need to be “trustworthy with dishonest wealth” – or rather, “faithful with the mammon of unjustice”. That is, in the economic realm, where we are all tempted to cheat and take advantage, we should focus not so much on getting rich in this world as on storing up riches in heaven.
Our deeper concern – and the concern of the Bible and the Church in their social thought – is not how to make a buck, but how we can use our economic life to grow in charity.
In what ways do you think people in our society are tempted to value things more than people – to “fix the scales” – in our economic relationships?
