Using Wealth

Itaque in Evangelio Dominus, doctor vitae nostrae et magister salutis aeternae, vivificans credentium populum et vivificatis consulens in aeternum, inter sua mandata divina et praecepta coelestia nihil crebrius mandat et praecipit quam ut insistamus eleemosynis dandis, nec terrenis possessionibus incubemus, sed coelestes thesauros potius recondamus. Vendite, inquit, res vestras, et date eleemosynam. Et iterum: Nolite vobis condere thesauros super terram, ubi tinea et comestura exterminat, et ubi fures effodiunt et furantur. Thesaurizate autem vobis thesauros in coelo, ubi neque tinea neque comestura exterminat, et ubi fures non effodiunt nec furantur. Ubi enim fuerit thesaurus tuus, ibi erit et cor tuum. Et cum observata lege perfectum et consummatum vellet ostendere, Si vis, inquit, perfectus esse, vade et vende omnia tua, et da egenis, et habebis thesaurum in coelo; et veni, sequere me. Item alio loco negotiatorem coelestis gratiae et comparatorem salutis aeternae, distractis omnibus rebus suis, pretiosam margaritam, hoc est vitam aeternam, Christi cruore pretiosam, de quantitate patrimonii sui dicit debere mercari: Simile est, inquit, regnum coelorum homini negotiatori quaerenti bonas margaritas. Ubi autem invenit pretiosam margaritam, abiit et vendidit omnia quae habuit, et emit illam. Eos denique et Abrahae filios dicit quos in juvandis alendisque pauperibus operarios cernit. Nam, cum Zachaeus dixisset: Ecce dimidium ex substantia mea do egenis, et si cui quid fraudavi, quadruplum reddo, respondit Jesus et dixit quia salus hodie huic domui facta est, quoniam et hic filius est Abrahae. Nam, si Abraham credidit Deo et deputatum est ei ad justitiam, utique qui secundum praeceptum Dei eleemosynas facit, Deo credit, et qui habet fidei veritatem, servat Dei timorem; qui autem Dei timorem servat, in miserationibus pauperum Deum cogitat. Operatur enim ideo quia credit, quia scit vera esse quae praedicta sunt verbis Dei, nec Scripturam sanctam posse mentiri; arbores infructuosas, id est, steriles homines, excidi et in ignem mitti, misericordes autem ad regnum vocari. Qui et alio in loco operarios et fructuosos fideles appellat, infructuosis vero et sterilibus fidem derogat dicens: Si in injusto mammona fideles non fuistis, quod est verum quis credet vobis? Et si in alieno fideles non fuistis, quod est vestrum quis dabit vobis? Sanctus Cyprianus, De Opere et Eleemosynis Source: Migne PL 4.607b-608b

Therefore in the Gospel, the Lord, the teacher of our life and the master of eternal salvation, enlivening the assembly of believers, and looking to their being enlivened forever, prescribes nothing more frequently among His Divine commands and precepts of heaven than that we should give ourselves to almsgiving and not depend on worldly possessions, but rather lay up heavenly treasures. 'Sell,' He says, 'what you have and give alms.' 1 And again, 'Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupt, and where thieves do not break in nor steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be.' 2 And when He wished to show a man perfect and complete by observation of the law, He said, 'If you wish to be perfect, go and sell that you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven, and come follow me.' 3 Again, in another place, He says that a merchant of the heavenly grace and a gainer of eternal salvation should purchase the precious pearl, that is, eternal life, at the price of the blood of Christ, from the amount of his patrimony, parting with all his wealth for it. He says, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And when he found a precious pearl, he went off and sold all he had, and bought it.' 4 Then He calls them children of Abraham who He sees to be labouring in aiding and feeding the poor. For when Zacchaeus said, 'Behold, I give half of my goods to the poor, and if I have done any wrong to any man, I shall restore it fourfold,' and Jesus answered and said, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because even this man is a son of Abraham.' 5 For if Abraham believed in God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, 6 certainly he who gives alms according to God's command believes in God, and he who has the truth of faith maintains the reverence of God, and he who reveres God is mindful of God in showing mercy to the poor. Indeed he labours so because he believes, because he knows that what is foretold by God's word is true, and that the Holy Scripture cannot lie, and so that unfruitful trees, that is, fruitless men, are cut off and cast into the fire, but that the merciful are called into the kingdom. 7 In another place He also calls labouring and fruitful men faithful, but He denies faith to the unfruitful and the barren, saying, 'If you have not been faithful in the things of unrighteous mammon, who will trust you with what is true? And if you have not been faithful in what is another's, who shall give you that which is your own?' 8 Saint Cyprian of Carthage, Treatise On Works And Alms. 1 Lk 12.33 2 Mt 6.19-21 3 Mt 19.21 4 Mt 13.45-46 5 Lk 19.8-9 6 Gen 15.6, Rom 4.3 7 Mt 7.19, Mt 25.34-46 8 Lk 16.11-12