For the love of money is the root of all of evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. It therefore makes sense to assert, with Thomas and Augustine, that every sinful act proceeds from inordinate desire for some temporal good. Box 591090, San Francisco, CA 94159-1090. The narrower reading makes the elementary observation that without the concrete means to pursue them, most desires go unfulfilled. Study rather to fill your mind than your coffers; knowing that gold and silver were originally mingled with dirt, until avarice or ambition parted them. The moral of the tale pressure his listeners into giving their money to him. These two parts are called, for the sake of shorthand, the lower soul and the higher soul (which is also known as mind or spirit). Many people have heard the expression "money is the root of all evil," but the actual Biblical translation is "the love of money is the root of all evil. A full reply to these exaggerated but sadly influential views falls outside the scope of this article, but it will do us good to think about the incomparable response of Augustine, who in many places assaults the Manichaean error that held his intellect in thrall for many wearisome years: Throughout our discussion, therefore, it must be borne in mind that only the selfish and harmful use of worldly goods, not their use and even less their existence, is the target of the Apostles (and the Catholic faiths) condemnation. 1, 15, p. 26. It is but shaping the bribe to the taste, and every one has his price. [6]. Yes I did say SHOOT rather than ROOT. Avarice is considered to be one of the Seven Deadly Sins in Catholic doctrine. For it is pride that turns one away from wisdom, and the result of this turning away is folly. Men are ambitious for honors in this life, they are envious of goods that other people now have or will have, they are malicious towards competitors or enemies. What must be the wealth that avarice, aided by power, cannot exhaust! Many have been ruined by their fortunes; many have escaped ruin by the want of fortune. in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College and an M.A. The sinners mistake is twofold: he chooses something harmful out of a mistaken perception of what will make him happy, and in doing so he refuses to submit to the divine wisdom which created and sustains all good things in their proper places and for their proper purposes. When money is unreasonably coveted, it is a disease of the mind which is called avarice. There are two considerations which always imbitter the heart of an avaricious man—the one is a perpetual thirst after more riches, the other the prospect of leaving what he has already acquired. Ambition, envy, malice, and other interior sins culminate in the gravest damage when they are armed with worldly power, and worldly power and prestige, in this fallen reality, is almost always the companion, and usually the puppet, of wealth. Parsimony is enough to make the master of the golden mines as poor as he that has nothing; for a man may be brought to a morsel of bread by parsimony as well as profusion. People may become jealous or envious of the material success of others, but avarice comes from within one's own desires and priorities. Avarice is only prudence and economy pushed to excess. De libero arbitrio, Lib. So a man sometimes covers up the entire disc of eternity with a dollar, and quenches transcendent glories with a little shining dust. Indeed, it is obvious upon reflection that no sin is committed for its own sake; all sins are committed with a view to the aggrandizement and advancement of ones own happiness, however poorly this goal may be understood. Jean Oesterle (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1995), pp. Perhaps, then, it is time to consider St. Pauls meaning more carefully, in order to understand better the truth contained in this startling assertion. INORDINATE LOVE OF SELF AS THE ROOT OF SIN. (For his action to be acceptable and meritorious, a person need not be consciously aware in every case that what he is about to do is perfective of his better nature; otherwise it would be very difficult to act quickly and spontaneously in the many contexts of daily life, where prolonged reflection can be a luxury or a hindrance. 1. Douglas, comp. The subject is "Money (greed) is the root of all evil." If he could have the gratification without any threat to himself, he would take it. Any creature can become an occasion or instrument of sin if the person using that created thing uses it badly, which is to say uses it against the function it was intended to serve in the Christian life. He that sinks under the fatigue of getting wealth lulls his age with the milder business of saving it. In his response to the third objection, St. Thomas expands on his answer: Man is said to love both the good he desires for himself, and himself to whom he desires it. 391-409. [19] This desire lies at the bottom of all unjust personal dealings and unjust social structures from the beginning of time. The prodigal son wanted to do his own thing, so he appropriated his inheritance and went off. In this way, others benefit from the need for goods and services created by the uber-wealthy classes. Wait but for wings, and in their season fly. If the author of these verses had been any other saint, we might excuse ourselves by saying that he was writing about and for a given period of time, and that his sentiments no longer applied in the same way to us and our age. A very few pounds a year would ease a man of the scandal of avarice. And what is the source of this turning away, if not that someone whose good is God wants to be his own good, as if he were his own God? Expel avarice, the mother of all wickedness, who, always thirsty for more, opens wide her jaws for gold. On the contrary, The Apostle says (1 Timothy 6:10): "The desire of money is the root of all evil." By singling out avarice, St. Paul is naming the genus, cupidity or inordinate desire, by its most noticeable and prominent species that is, he is referring to all temporal goods by their most visible and coveted representative, Mammon. George Bancroft. After what we have learned about the sin of avarice with the help of St. Augustine, St. Thomas, and Cardinal Newman, it will be evident why St. Paul concludes his first Epistle to Timothy with the wise counsel (6:1719): As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches but on God who richly furnishes us with everything to enjoy.

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