Wealth And Death

Ut autem de temporalium divitiarum et deliciarum umbratili, et peremptoria felicitate causa exempli aliqua inducamus, et quod ad beatitudinem, quae a caritate est, ea liqueat esse penitus aliena: vide imprimis quanta circa pecuniam molestiarum turba versetur. Pecunia cum labore acquirirur, acquisita cum timore servatur, et tandem cum dolore amittitur. Ex proventu pecuniae potest aestimari miseriae incrementum: hydropici enim more, qui plus bibendo, plus sitit, pecuniae cupiditas ex multiplicatione grandescit. Timetur primo potens ne auferat, servus ne furto surripiat. Et frequenter impletur verbum illud Sapientis, ut sint divitiae conservatae in malum Domini sui. Melius est ergo pauperi, quia nec metuit potentem, nec proditorem formidat aut furem. Pauper cantat, dives plorat. Nam juxta criticum: Ploratur lacrymis amissa pecunia veris. Verbum Salomonis est: Avarus non satiabitur pecunia, et qui amat divitias fructum non capiet ex eis. Circumspecte dictum est, qui amat divitias; potest enim homo sic amare divitias, ut non habeat, ubi cor suum divitiis, si affluant, non apponat. Propterea praecipit Apostolus praedicandum divitibus non superbe sapere, non sperare in incremento divitiarum, sed ut facile tribuant et communicent, et thesaurisent sibi bonum fundamentum, ut apprehendant veram vitam, Ipso teste: Non qui divites sunt, sed qui divites esee volunt, incidunt in tentationem et laqueum diaboli, sibique thesaurizant iram in die irae. Quod insinuans Abacuc dicit: Vae qui congregat non sua. Usquequo et aggravat contra se densum lutum? Sanctos etiam inter divitias, nec sollicitudo servandi, nec timor amittendi sollicitat. Hanc enim sollicitudinem Dominus interdicit: Nolite, inquiens, solliciti esse dicentes: Quid manducanimus aut quid bibemus? Et paulo post: Quaerite primum regnum Dei et justitiam ejus, et haec omnia adjicientur vobis. Isti, sicut nunquam de divitiis gloriantur, sic nec murmurant de amissione illarum: imo rapinam bonorum suorum cum gaudio suscipiunt, considerantes se habere meliorem et manentem substantiam. Perversis denique totum in contrarium cedit; dum enim rationalis animae appetitum, cui solus Deus sufficere potest, satiari existimant vili affluentia mundialium rerum, nihil ex quantalibet rerum ingestione proficiunt, nec sitim sibi infelicibus exinde subtrahunt, nec a labore quiescunt, et quod miserabilius est, talium vana delectatione tumescunt. Talium dico, gloria in confusione est, quorum finis interitus, quorum vita in continuo labore, quorum exitus in miseria sine fine. Quocirca nugatoria et fallaci temporalium divitiarum felicitate delusi, praeteritae vitae fructum convertunt in materiam lacrymarum. Miseriam siquidem talium sacra Scriptura patenter exprimit ac describit: Dicentes, inquit, intra se poenitentiam agentes, et prae angustia spiritus gementes: Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis et perditionis, ambulavimus vias difficiles, viam autem Domini ignoravimus. Quid nobis profuit superbia, et divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis? Transierunt omnia velut umbra, et tanquam nuntius praecurrens, tanquam navis quae praeterit fluctuantes aquas, cujus, quum transit, non est vestigium invenire: ita et nos nati continuo desivimus esse, et virtutis quidem nullum signum valuimus ostendere; in malignitate nostra consumpti sumus. Talia dixerunt in inferno qui peccaverunt, quoniam spes impii tanquam lango est, quae a vento tollitur, et tanquam spuma gracilis, quae a procella disperigitur, et tanquam fumus, qui a vento diffusus est, et tanquam memoria hospitis unus diei praetereuntis. Petrus Blenensis, De Caritate Dei et Proximi, Cap. V-VI Source: Migne PL 207.901a-902a

Concerning the matter of temporal wealth and ephemeral delights, for the sake of example, we shall present something regarding transient happiness, and something which leads to beatitude, which is from love, to which the former is clearly utterly foreign. Consider first the host of troubles which money stirs up. It is acquired by toil, and what is acquired is guarded in fear, until at last it is lost. With foresight it is possible to judge the increase of this wretchedness, for in the manner of a man with dropsy, who the more he drinks the more he thirsts, so the desire for wealth grows with the multiplication of riches. First there is fear lest a powerful man take it away, then lest a servant turn thief and steal it. And often fulfilled is the word of that wisdom, that riches are preserved to evil against their master. 1 Better then it is for the poor man, because he neither fears the powerful, nor trembles at the traitor or the thief. The poor man sings, the rich man sobs. For according to the critic: With sincere tears he weeps the loss of coin. 2 The word of Solomon says, 'The avaricous man shall not be satisfied with money, and he who loves wealth shall gather no fruit from it.' 3 Attend to what is said: 'He who loves wealth,' For it is possible that a man love wealth as if he did not have it, when his own heart is amid wealth, and if it overflows, he does not treasure it. 4 Whence the Apostle in his preaching commands the rich not to think proudly, nor to hope in an increase of riches, but that they might easily give and share it and gather as treasure for themselves a good foundation, so that they might seize on the true life. He who also said, 'It is not he who is rich but they who wish to be rich who fall into the temptations and snares of the devil, heaping up for themselves wrath on the day of wrath.' 5 Which Habakkuk counsels saying, 'Alas to those who gather what is not theirs. How long will you burden yourself with such heavy filth?' 6 The holy, when they are among riches, neither care to guard them, nor fear to lose them. For from this anxiety the Lord prohibited us, saying, 'Do not, being troubled, have care to say, 'What shall we eat, or what shall we drink?' And after a little: 'Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.' 7 These never glory in wealth, so neither do they grumble to lose it; however they do take to seizing on their own goods with joy, considering themselves to have a better and lasting substance. Finally the perverse fall into the opposite, for while God alone is able to satisfy the desire of the rational soul, they think to satisfy themselves with a vile affluence of worldly things, nothing from the pouring in of which, whatever the amount, profits, nor does it remove the thirst of unhappiness, nor does it give rest from toil, and what is even more wretched is that it puffs up with such vain delight. I say of such, that their glory is their confusion, of which the end is ruin, their life is continual labor and their death into misery without end. For they are deluded by such worthless things, the deceitful happiness of temporal riches, which with the passing away of life are turned into the fruit which is a matter of tears. Certainly Sacred Scripture speaks openly of such things and describes them: They say among themselves, wracked with regret, and with anguish of spirit groaning: 'We have been worn out in the way of iniquity and ruin, we have walked on obstinate ways, for we ignored the way of the Lord. What did our pride profit us, and what did our boasts of riches bring to us? All have passed away like a shadow, and as a herald hastening on, as a ship passing over the rolling waves, of which, when it passes, there is no trace to be found; thus we being born have swiftly passed away, and we are not able to show any sign of virtue; in our wickedness we are consumed.' 8 Such things they say in hell who have sinned, because the hope of the impious is a fragile thing, which is borne away by the wind, as delicate sea foam which a gust scatters, as smoke which is dispersed by a breeze, as the memory of a visitor who is gone in a day. Peter of Blois, On Love Of God And One's Neighbour, Chap 5-6 1 Eccles 5.12 2 Juvenal Sat 13.134 3 Eccles 5.9 4 Ps 61.11 5 1 Tim 6.17-19, 6.9 6 Hab 2.6 7 Mt 6.31,33 8 Wisdom 5.7-10,3