"We Are Not Masters of Our Own Money"

Today I ran across an interesting quotation in a local church newsletter. While the message was nothing new to me, I had never seen it put in quite this language before. Here without any further adieu is the quote of Blessed Theophylact (an Archbishop of the church in the 11th Century): We are not masters of our own money. For we have nothing that is our own. We are merely stewards of things that belong to another, namely, our Divine Master, Who has entrusted those things into our hands so that we might use them well...."

Pause, if you will, and think about this for a moment. This Christian figure is declaring something quite radical -- that no one owns the money he has; one only keeps temporarily money which belongs to someone else, specifically, the Lord God. Whether one agrees that the Ultimate One owns our money, the point is that we are indeed merely stewards of the things of this earth, for, after all, no one lives forever on this earth.

If we are only stewards, the question of how much each person should have stewardship over is unavoidable. It is not merely a matter of who can grab control of more money, or should not be. There has to be some recognizable and just criterion. This, of course, is not the way the earth operates. But is there any reason it could not? If the answer is "Yes", what is that reason? If Archbishop Theophylact is correct we already know that no one has the right of ownership of the earth's resources. If he is right, then it follows there must be a reason if some get more than others. Yet, there is no such criterion in existence. What we have is simply a situation where some, chiefly through inheritance, or cleverness, or being born into the "right" circles, have corralled more than others. Such a system could hardly be called equitable.

Let us then, out of simple logic, state our firm opposition to such an unjust system. And let us follow through by denouncing the greedy avarice of oligarchical interests who would seek to own what is not theirs and to protect it through force of arms if necessary. And let us not shirk from the responsibility of pointing out that this is the true motive of certain corporations who would have unto themselves the resources of the earth, whether it be mideast oil or Northwest Pacific timberland or Indian drinking water.

I close this post with the names of several Americans confirmed dead in Iraq on February 6, as printed in The New York Times of February 7 (page A7). If you will use a clear mind's eye, perhaps you will catch a glimpse of the image of these men, so devoted and so young, men who will never again walk the earth in mortal form:

DUNN, Terrence D., 38, Staff Sgt., Army; Houston; 10th Mountain Division.

LANDECK, Kevin C., 26, Capt., Army; Illinois; 10th Mountain Division.

QUILL, Richard O. III, 22, Cpl., Marines; Roswell, Ga.; First Marine Division.

SANDERS, Ronnie L., 26, Staff Sgt., Army; Thibodaux, La.; 82nd Airborne Division.

SIEGER, Eric R., 18, Specialist, Army; Layton, Utah; First Cavalry Division.