Wealth And The World

Praecipe ergo, inquit, divitibus huius mundi. Non adderet: huius mundi, nisi quia sunt divites et non huius mundi. Qui sunt divites non huius mundi? Quorum princeps et caput est ille de quo dictum est: Pauper pro nobis factus est, cum dives esset. Sed si ille solus, quid profuit? Vide quod sequitur: Ut illius paupertate vos ditaremini. Puto quia paupertas Christi non nobis attulit pecuniam sed iustitiam. Paupertas autem illius unde? Quia mortalis effectus est. Ergo divitiae verae immortalitas. Ibi enim vera copia, ubi nulla indigentia. Quia ergo nos immortales fieri non possemus, nisi pro nobis Christus mortalis esset effectus, ideo pauper factus est, cum dives esset. Et non ait: Pauper factus est, cum dives fuisset, sed: Pauper factus est, cum dives esset. Paupertatem assumpsit et divitias non amisit. Intus dives, foris pauper. Latens Deus in divitiis, apparens homo in paupertate. Vide divitias eius: In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Quid ditius eo per quem facta sunt omnia? Aurum habere dives potest, creare non potest. Cum itaque istae eius divitiae commendatae essent, vide paupertatem eius: Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. Hac eius sumus paupertate ditati, quia in sanguine eius qui manavit de carne eius, quod Verbum caro factum est ut habitaret in nobis, conscissus est saccus peccatorum nostrorum. Per sanguinem illum abiecimus pannos iniquitatis, ut indueremur stola immortalitatis. Omnes ergo divites boni fideles. Nemo se contemnat, pauper in cella, dives in conscientia. Dives quippe in conscientia securior dormit in terra, quam auro dives in purpura. Ibi non excitat sollicitudo maligna, compuncto corde de scelere. Serva divitias in corde tuo, quas tibi contulit paupertas Domini tui. Immo ipsum adhibe tibi custodem. Ne pereat de corde quod dedit, servet ipso qui dedit. Omnes ergo divites boni fideles, sed non divites huius mundi. Denique divitias suas nec ipsi sentiunt; sentient postea. Vivit radix, sed hiemis tempore etiam viridis arbor aridae similis est. Tempore quippe hiemis et arbor quae aret, et arbor quae viget, utraque nuda est honore foliorum, utraque vacua honore frugum. Veniet aestas et discernet arbores. Viva radix folia producit, impletur fructibus; arida inanis aestate sicut hieme remanebit. Itaque illi horreum praeparatur, huic securis adhibetur, ut amputata in ignem mittatur. Sic aestas nostra, Christi est adventus. Hiems nostra, Christi occultatio; aestas nostra, Christi revelatio. Denique arboribus bonis et fidelibus hanc allocutionem praebet Apostolus: Mortui enim estis, et vita vestra abscondita est cum Christo in Deo. Certe mortui, sed mortui specie, vivi in radice. Attende autem venturum tempus aestatis, quomodo sequatur et dicat: Cum autem Christus apparuerit, vita vestra, tunc et vos cum ipso apparebitis in gloria. Hi sunt divites, sed non huius mundi. Sanctus Augustinus Hipponensi, Sermo XXXVI, De eo quod scriptum est in Proverbiis Salomonis, 'Sunt qui se divites affectant, nihil habentes; et sunt qui se humiliant, cum sint divites. Redemptio animae viri divitiae ejus: pauper autem non suffert minas.' Source: Migne PL 38.215-216

Therefore he says, 'Command the rich of this world.' 1 He would not add 'of this world' unless there were rich people who are not of this world. Who are the rich who are not of this world? Those whose prince and head He is of whom it is said, 'He became poor for us, when He was rich.' But if He did that alone, how did it profit? Look to what follows: 'that you be enriched by His poverty.' 2 I think that Christ's poverty did not bring us money but righteousness. But where did His poverty come from? Because He became mortal. Therefore true riches are immortality. That is true plenty, where there is no want. Thus because we could not become immortal unless Christ had been made mortal for us, therefore He became poor, when He was rich. It does not say, 'He became poor when He had been rich,' but He became poor, when He was rich.' He took up poverty and did not lose wealth. Rich within, poor without. Unseen as God in His wealth, appearing as a man in His poverty. Observe His riches: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In the beginning He was with God. All things were made through Him.' 3 What could be richer than He through whom all things were made? A rich man can possess gold, but he cannot create it. Now having proclaimed His wealth, observe His poverty: 'And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.' 4 It is by this poverty of His that we have been enriched, because by His blood which flowed from His flesh, which flesh the Word became in order to dwell among us, the sack of our sins was torn up. Through that blood we have cast off the rags of iniquity, that we might clothe ourselves in the robes of immortality. Therefore every good and faithful man is rich. Let no one poor in property, but rich in conscience, despise themselves. Those who are rich in conscience sleep more easily on the earth than those who are rich in gold do wrapped in purple. No guilty anxiety troubles them, no conscience is pricked by crimes. Guard in your heart the riches which the poverty of your Lord has brought you. Indeed, invite Him to guard them. Let Him who gave protect, lest what has been given to you disappear from your heart. Therefore every good and faithful man is rich, but they are not the rich of this world. Moreover not even they themselves are aware of their riches, but they will know them afterward. The root is alive, but in winter even the green tree is similar to the withered one. In winter both the tree that is withered and the tree that is alive are stripped bare of the dignity of foliage, and both lack the glory of fruit. But summer will come and tell the difference between the trees. The living root produces leaves and fills with fruit; the withered tree will remain as empty in summer as in winter. For the first a storeroom is prepared, to the latter an axe is applied, and when it has been cut down it is thrown in the fire. 5 So our summer is the coming of Christ. Our winter is when Christ is hidden, our summer when He is revealed. Finally it is to good and faithful trees that the Apostle offers this consolation: 'For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.' Certainly dead, but dead in appearance, alive in the root. Now look to the approaching time of summer, as he goes on to say, 'But when Christ, your life, appears, then you too will appear with Him in glory.' 6 These are the rich, but they are not of this world. Saint Augustine of Hippo, from Sermon 36, On what is written in the Proverbs of Solomon: 'There are some who pretend to be rich and have nothing, and there are some who humble themselves when they are rich. The redemption of a man's soul is his wealth, but the poor man does not suffer warnings.' 7 1 Tim 6.17 2 2 Cor 8.9 3 Jn 1.1-3 4 Jn 1.14 5 Mt 3.10, Lk 3.9, Jn 15.6 6 Colos 3.1-4 7 Prov 13.7-8