Chapter XIV.
He explains various reasons by which gold may bring the wealthy to freedom and salvation; he teaches what true wealth is; and he also reveals how God is made known and where his place is in peace.
Therefore, you are the guardian of your belongings, not the master, who dig up the gold of the earth, serving it as a minister, not as a judge. But where your treasure is, there also is your heart. Therefore, in that gold, you buried your heart in the earth. Instead, sell the gold and buy salvation; sell the stone and buy the kingdom of God; sell the field and redeem eternal life for yourself. I affirm the truth because I build with the word of truth: 'If you want to be perfect,' he says, 'sell everything you have; give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven' (Matthew 19:21). And do not be saddened when you hear these things; lest it be said to you, as it was said to that rich young man: How difficult it is for those who have money to enter the kingdom of God (Ibid., 23): rather, when you read these things, consider that death can take away from you these things, the power of the higher authority can remove them. Finally, because you seek small things instead of great things, temporary things instead of eternal things, treasures of money instead of treasures of grace. The former are corrupted, the latter endure.
Consider that you do not possess these alone, for you are possessed by moth and rust, which consume money. Greed has given you these companions. But look at those to whom gratitude has made you a debtor: The lips of the righteous bless a feast, and their testimony becomes proof of their goodness (Sirach 31:28). The Father God makes you a debtor, for He pays interest on the gift with which the poor person is helped, as if a good debtor pays the creditor. You make yourself a debtor to the Son of God, who says: I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me; I was naked, and you clothed me. (Matthew 25:35-36) Truly, whatever was done to the least of these, it was done to Him.
60. You do not know, O man, how to build up riches. If you want to be rich, be poor in the world, so that you may be rich in God. Rich in faith, rich in God; rich in mercy, rich in God; rich in simplicity, rich in God; rich in wisdom, rich in knowledge, riches in God. There are those who abound in poverty and those who lack in riches. The poor abound, whose deep poverty has abounded in the riches of their simplicity; but the rich have lacked and hungered. For it is not written in vain: The poor shall rule over the rich, and the servants shall lend to their masters (Prov. XVII, 2); because the rich and the masters sow useless and evil things, from which they will not gather fruit, but instead gather thorns. And therefore the rich will be subject to the poor, and the servants will lend spiritual things to their masters; just as the rich man asked, so that the poor Lazarus would lend him a drop of water. You too, rich man, can fulfill this sentence: give generously to the poor and you have lent to the Lord; for whoever gives to the poor, lends to the Lord.
However, the holy David beautifully singing a hymn to God in Psalm 75, written against the spiritual wickedness of Assyria, the empty and vain ruler of this world, began as follows: God is known in Judah (Psalm 75:1-2); that is, not in the rich, not in the noble and powerful, but in the soul that confesses. And he says, His name is great in Israel; not in princes and governors, but in the one who sees God. For he is Israel, in whom deep faith could reach the knowledge of God.
And there is, he says, a place for him in peace; where calm emotions are not stirred up by the waves of various desires, where he is not disturbed by the storms of greed, where he does not burn with the fires of seeking riches. He is the one who contemplates eternal things, and he dwells in Zion, shattering all the spiritual instruments of war, breaking the bows with which the devil, aiming fiery darts, is accustomed to burn the heavy passions in the hearts of men. But those darts cannot harm the just, for whom God is light, and so far away from the horror of dark shadows that the adversary cannot find a place in him, who even used to infuse himself into princes; just as he infused himself into the betrayer Judas, cutting down the doors of faith like trees in a forest, so that he could enter his heart and possess the tabernacle of the eternal name, dedicated by the gift of the apostolate. Therefore, that wicked usurper cuts down the doors as if a violent man is entering; but the Lord, like a compassionate one, illuminates his servants, and with the brightness of their merits and the brilliance of their virtues, he illuminates the darkness of this world. These have the grace of God, being peaceful and meek, founded on the tranquility of their sober mind; but the foolish are troubled in heart, and they themselves are the authors of their own agitation; for they are tossed by the waves of their own desires, and fluctuate like the sea.