If only money grew on trees, this is a common sentiment by us at times. If only I won the lottery, I would do this and that. It is amazing to me the amount of money spent on wishful thinking. How many lottery tickets are bought just hoping to win the big one? How many hours are spent day dreaming about what we would do if we were rich? Money, we need it to live, to be able to buy food, heat, electricity, health care, shelter and so much more. But isn’t there a saying that says, “money is the root of all evil?” Doesn’t Jesus say, “store up your treasure in heaven?” So why the focus on money? I think the answer is that for many of us, we are looking to fill a void in our lives. We are thinking that the money will fix that problem. Look at the rich, do they seem to be any happier? The most happy kids I have ever met were kids in an orphanage living in Kenya. They ate rice and beans all the time, they lived in a room with 20 other orphans, they had uniforms and shaved heads (lice). These kids were dirt poor, and didn’t know their parents and yet the joy that was evident in their lives could not be missed. Why? Because they knew Jesus! All the money in the world, all the gadgets, computers, cell phones, and modern conveniences don’t bring happiness. They bring a little pleasure that is fliting and goes away. But the love of Jesus, it lasts forever. Don’t we think that if we want to spend eternity with God, that we should know Him here, now, better than we know anyone else? Money doesn’t buy love nor happiness. It is God that is love who brings love and gives love. And it is only in God that our souls are at rest. God is the only one that can bring eternal happiness. No thing or no one else can do this!!!
Fr. Thomas P. Galarneault