Wealth And Death

Quid ergo, fratres, putatis habere aurum esse divitias? Ego dixerim majores esse divitias aurum non habere: pretiosior enim mens ejus, quae aurum despicit quam quae aurum requirit, majores plane sunt divitiae non habere aurum, sed aurum habentibus eminere. Qui enim propriis abundant bonis, saeculi thesauros non requirit; bona enim sunt propria, honestas, sobrietas, misericordia, castitas: quae bona omnia auro magis sunt pretiosa; ut sciatis qui his ita viliora sunt metalla: auri talenta emi possunt: argenti vasa comparari possunt; honestas enim non emitur, sed acquiritur; quia non constat pretio, sed virtute. Tu igitur, qui aurum possides, si placet, bona invicem conferamus. Tu cum peregre proficisceris, thesauri tui necessario domi remanent, quibus longe a te positis, semper trepidus, sempet incertus es, ne cum domum redieris, non habeas quod habebas. Ita dum semper amissionem eorum metuis, apud conscientiam tuam nudus et pauper es. Ego autem quocunque iero, meae divitiae me sequuntur, nec separari possunt a me bona, quoniam non terreno specu, sed pectoris thesauro retinentur. Tu cum recedis a saeculo relinquendo, tuas divitias perdidisti; ego autem, cum mihi de hoc mundo migrare contingit, divitias meas mecum ad paradisum veho; tuas divitias post mortem, exemplo illius purpurati divitis, ignis et tenebrae subsequentur; meas divitias, exemplo Lazari, sinus Abrahae et beatitudo suscipiet. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia LXXXII, De Sanctis Martyribus Source: Migne PL 57.432a-c

Why then, brothers, think that the possession of gold is wealth? I would say that it is greater wealth to have no gold; for more precious is the mind of a man which despises gold than he who seeks it; greater are they who are wealthy not possessing gold but who outshine those who do possess it. For he who abounds with his own goods, does not seek the wealth of the world, for he has his own goods, uprightness, sobriety, compassion, chastity, every one of which is more precious than gold, and so know that every metal is more vile than them. They are able to be bought with talents of gold, that are able to be acquired with vessels of silver, but uprightness they cannot buy, yet it is acquirable, being valued not by price but by virtue. You, therefore, who possess wealth, if it pleases, let us compare our goods. You, when you make a journey, must leave behind your wealth in your house, placing yourself far from it, always fearful because of it, always uncertain, that when you return to your home you no longer posses what you have. Thus while you always fear its loss, your conscience is weak and poor. My goods are not able to be separated from me, because they are not from some pit of the earth, but they are carried in the treasury of the heart. When you are required to leave the earth, you lose your wealth; I, however, when it comes that I must depart this world, I bear my wealth with me to paradise. Your riches after death, if we recall the example of that finely garbed rich man, are consigned to fire and darkness, my wealth, by the example of Lazarus, gain the lap of Abraham and blessedness. 1 Saint Maximus of Turin, from Homily 82, On The Holy Martyrs 1 Lk 16.19-31