This is the sign outside the ex-residence of the Catholic bishop of Limerick,Dr. Donal Murray. The property is in the salubrious North Circular Road area of the city and it is expected that the house and land will fetch at least 20 million Euro ! Makes you think doesn't it?GOD OR MAMMON ?
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and look down on the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.”
The great and dynamic struggle that Jesus spoke
of, “God or mammon,” is still going on today. War has
opened people’s eyes to see that the pursuit of money,
or preoccupation with outward things, is incompatible
with all higher goals and purposes. Mamona was the
Aramaic word for wealth, and it was in this wealth that
Jesus saw the power of Satan. Even to Jesus himself
Satan said, “I will give you all this if you will fall down
and worship me.” Devoting ourselves to a life of ease
and pleasure means letting these outward things
become the determining force in our lives. At the
core of this service of mammon is the secret worship
of things, a clinging to them and a love for them that
amounts to a decision against God.
God and money are the two masters between whom
one must choose, the two goals of living that cannot be
reconciled. Already at the time of the early Christians,
some scholars interpreted “Mammon” as a name of the
devil Beelzebub. Others interpreted it as the name of a
demon particularly connected with money in Satan’s
realm. Any attempt to combine service to God and
service to mammon will end in failure. With one heart
we must love God alone and cleave to him, despising
mammon.
The materialistic view of life only makes demands
for itself – wanting bodily ease, comfort, and pleasure.
Anyone who values the easy life values material goods
and is dominated by their power. He has been made
a slave because he only wants to take; he has been
deprived of that wealth of life in which one wants to
give and bestow. The attitude of “What can life give
me?” serves mammon and knows only rights and not
responsibility. Its uppermost goal is payment and gain.
We have to realize that most people, rich as well as
poor, strive to secure property for their own benefit and
comfort, often to the repression of everything else. So
many are carried away by love for sensual happiness,
comfort, and material pleasure. For believers, love
of money is the old – and ever new – danger that
threatened even the first Christians in the original
church community.
he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be
devoted to the one and look down on the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.”
The great and dynamic struggle that Jesus spoke
of, “God or mammon,” is still going on today. War has
opened people’s eyes to see that the pursuit of money,
or preoccupation with outward things, is incompatible
with all higher goals and purposes. Mamona was the
Aramaic word for wealth, and it was in this wealth that
Jesus saw the power of Satan. Even to Jesus himself
Satan said, “I will give you all this if you will fall down
and worship me.” Devoting ourselves to a life of ease
and pleasure means letting these outward things
become the determining force in our lives. At the
core of this service of mammon is the secret worship
of things, a clinging to them and a love for them that
amounts to a decision against God.
God and money are the two masters between whom
one must choose, the two goals of living that cannot be
reconciled. Already at the time of the early Christians,
some scholars interpreted “Mammon” as a name of the
devil Beelzebub. Others interpreted it as the name of a
demon particularly connected with money in Satan’s
realm. Any attempt to combine service to God and
service to mammon will end in failure. With one heart
we must love God alone and cleave to him, despising
mammon.
The materialistic view of life only makes demands
for itself – wanting bodily ease, comfort, and pleasure.
Anyone who values the easy life values material goods
and is dominated by their power. He has been made
a slave because he only wants to take; he has been
deprived of that wealth of life in which one wants to
give and bestow. The attitude of “What can life give
me?” serves mammon and knows only rights and not
responsibility. Its uppermost goal is payment and gain.
We have to realize that most people, rich as well as
poor, strive to secure property for their own benefit and
comfort, often to the repression of everything else. So
many are carried away by love for sensual happiness,
comfort, and material pleasure. For believers, love
of money is the old – and ever new – danger that
threatened even the first Christians in the original
church community.
Eberhard Arnold
3 comments:
It seems to me that the Church lost much of its spiritual clout when it got caught up in the political system and the acquisition of property.The phrase- give to Caesar the things that are Ceasers and to God the things that are Gods- comes to mind.
I think the official name for a bishops residence is a bishopric...pronunciation of this word tells its own tale !
The proceeds of the sale are to be spent on a county wide investigation into all the dioceses of the Catholic Church as a continuation of the Ferns report.
The Bishops also intend to sell all their other properties to compensate victims of the Church. The sales will bring in many billions as they hold some of the most prime pieces of real estate in Ireland. Any money left over will be spent building social housing and building shelters for the homeless.
And the moon is made of cheese and the sun goes asleep every night and Fionn McCumaill was a gay rights salmon fisherman.
Or maybe I'm dreaming...
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