Avarice And Murder

Dona iniquorum reprobat Altissimus. Qui offert sacrificium ex substantiam pauperum, quasi qui victimat filium in conspectu patris sui. Divitiae, inquit, quas congregabit injustus, evometur de ventre ejus; trahit illum angelus mortis: ira draconum multabitur: interficiet illum lingua colubri. Comedet autem eum ignis inexstinguibilis. Ideoque vae qui replent se quae non sunt sua. Vel, quid prodest homini, ut totum mundum lucretur, et animae suae detrimentum patiatur? Longum est per singula discutere vel insinuare, per totam legem carpere testimonia de tali cupiditate. Avaritia mortale crimen. Non concupisces rem proximi tui. Non occides. Homicidia non potest esse cum Christo. Qui odit fratrem suum, homicida ascribitur; vel, qui non diligit fratrem suum in morte manet. Quanto magis reus est qui manus suas coinqiunavit in sanguine filiorum Dei, quos nuper acquisivit in ultimis terrae, per exhortationem parvitatis nostrae? Sanctus Patricius Hibernorum Apostolus, Epistola Ad Coroticum  Migne PL 53.815-816

'The Most High rejects the gifts of the iniquitous. He who offers a sacrifice taken from the belongings of the poor is like one who sacrifices a son in the sight of his father.' 1 'Riches,' it says, 'which the unrighteous man gathers, will be vomited out of his stomach. The angel of death will drag him away, the rage of dragons will be his punishment; the tongue of the serpent will kill him.' 2 Indeed the unquenchable fire will consume him. And so woe to those who fill themselves with what is not theirs. And likewise: 'What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?' 3 Long it would be to discuss or refer to the testimonies throughout the whole law that speak out against such greed. Avarice is a deadly crime. 'Do not covet your neighbour's goods. Do not kill.' 4 The murderer can not be with Christ. 'Whoever hates his brother is a murderer,' and likewise, 'Whoever does not love his brother remains in death.' 5 How much more guilty is he who has stained his hands with the blood of the children of God, those who He only recently acquired at the ends of the earth through the encouragement of our insignificance? Saint Patrick Apostle of the Irish, from The Letter to Coroticus 1 Sirach 34.23-24 2 Job 20. 15-16 3 Mt 16.26 4 Exod 20.17,13 5 1 Jn 3.14-15