IS MONEY THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL?

My stomach always cramps when this question is switched to a statement. When someone throws that into conversation, I never agree but I never challenge it either. What’s wrong with money? Having money in the bank brings some security, buys some happiness, and seems to make life somewhat easier. I like having some extra money.

Money’s a funny thing. What I have noticed is that if you are lucky enough to be born with an inheritance, that wealth comes with a responsibility all its own…as well as its fair share of judgments from those outside your circle. On the other hand, that inheritance can also rip families apart. I have also noticed that if you are of the lucky few to earn your fortune, unfair judgments still pass your way and wanted or unwanted responsibilities are yours, too.  You can marry into money or maybe even be the lucky recipient of a winning lotto ticket. I think that people and money have an odd relationship, often cruel and misunderstood.

But last Sunday at Mass during the sermon, the visiting priest clarified that statement for me. He referenced the biblical verse 1 Timothy 6:10.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

And then I understood. It’s ‘the love of’ part I’d been missing all these years.

There is nothing wrong with money. It’s what you do with your money. When you use your money to serve, goodness reigns. Our world and its people are the beneficiaries of that goodness. It’s when money rules that problems arise. When money leads to power, relationships are manipulated and destroyed. What is true then hides and good intentions are never realized.

There are many needs in our world today, too many needs that go unrecognized.  Maybe by changing our relationship with money, recognizing the goodness that can come when money serves, maybe money will become the root of all goodness, instead of the root of all evil.

Two cents for your thoughts about money?