The Providential Usefulness of Riches.

The Trials of Riches and Poverty

If wealth were an insuperable obstacle to the salvation of those who possess it, as might be inferred from certain words of Jesus if interpreted literally and not according to their spirit, then God, who grants riches, would have put in the hands of some an instrument of unavoidable perdition, a thought that is repugnant to reason. Undoubtedly, wealth is a very slippery trial, more dangerous than poverty because of its allure, the temptations it creates and the fascination it exerts. It  is the supreme arouser of pride, selfishness and lust. It is the strongest tie that  keeps humans bound  to  the earth and diverts their thoughts from heaven. It produces such giddiness that we often see that those who go from poverty to wealth soon forget their former condition, those who shared with them in it and those who helped them in it, and they become insensitive, selfish and vain. However, even though wealth makes the journey difficult, it does not follow that it makes it impossible or that it cannot become a means of salvation in the hands of those who know how to use it, just as certain poisons can restore health if used purposefully and carefully.

When Jesus told the young man who had asked him about the means of inheriting eternal life, “Get rid of all you have and follow me,” he did not intend to establish an absolute principle that everyone must sell what they possess and that salvation can be obtained only at such a price; rather, he meant to show that the attachment to earthly riches is an obstacle to salvation. In fact, the young man believed he was in accord with the law because he had observed certain commandments, and he therefore recoiled from the notion of abandoning his wealth. His desire for eternal life did not go as far as making such a sacrifice.

What Jesus proposed to him was a decisive test meant to uncover what was at the core of his thinking. From the world’s point of view, he could undoubtedly have been a perfectly honest man who did not harm anyone, did not slander his neighbor, was neither vain nor proud, and who honored his mother and father. However, he did not practice true charity, because his virtue did not extend as far as self-sacrifice. That is what Jesus wanted to demonstrate. It was an application of the principle, “Without charity there is no salvation.”

If these words were taken literally, the consequence would be the abolition of wealth as detrimental to future happiness and as the source of a multitude of ills on earth. Furthermore, it would be the condemnation of the labor that could procure it. This would be an absurd consequence that would take humankind back to its primitive period and would in and of itself contradict the law of progress, which is a law of God.

If riches are the source of many ills, if they arouse so many evil passions, if they provoke so many crimes, riches per se are not to blame, but the human beings who abuse them as they do all God’s gifts. By this abuse, they render pernicious what would otherwise be very useful to them; but this is the result of the inferior state of the terrestrial world. If wealth could produce only evil, God would not have put it on the earth. It is up to humans to make it produce the good. If it is not a direct element for moral progress, it is undeniably a powerful element for intellectual progress.

The truth of the matter is that humans have the mission of laboring for the material improvement of the planet; they must reclaim it, cleanse it and make it suitable to someday receive the entire population that its range can bear. In order to feed this ever- increasing population, production must be increased. If one country’s production is insufficient, it will have to be sought elsewhere. For this very reason, relations between nations become a necessity. In order to facilitate such relations, it is necessary to destroy the physical barriers that separate nations and to render communication more rapid. For such endeavors – which are the work of centuries – humans have had to extract materials from the bowels of the earth; they have sought in science the means to execute their endeavors more safely and rapidly. However, to accomplish them, resources are needed; necessity drove humans to create wealth, just as it drove them to discover science. The activity required by these endeavors has increased and developed their intelligence, and this intelligence, which they have concentrated primarily on satisfying their material needs, will help them later on to understand the great moral truths. Since wealth is the primary means of executing these tasks, without it there would be no more great endeavors, no more activity, no stimulus and no research. It is with good reason therefore that wealth is considered an element of progress.