The student radical in the play, Fiddler on the Roof, says the riches are a curse. The poor milkman exclaims, “May the Lord curse me with it and may I never recover.” The relationship between riches and poverty has a convulted relationship in the Bible. If you think of it, the sin of Adam was all about trying to possess something, that apple, that Adam wanted. That helps to explain the warning of Jesus, “Take care to guard against all greed.” One of the first words a baby learns is “mine.” They hold out their pudgy little fingers and grasp after the Cheerios or the new Slinky toy. “Mine.” Coming to faith is unlearning that word. St. Paul reminds us, “this is not from you; it is the gift of God.” Since everything is a gift from God everything we have is on loan to be used as God intends. The founder of the Jesuits, St. Ignatius of Loyola, wrote this prayer. “Take, Lord, receive all my liberty, my memory, understand, my entire will, all I have and possess. You have given all to me, now I return it.”
