Power And Wealth
Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couple:
“Rely not on your wealth,” advises Sirach. “Say not: ‘I have the power.’ Rely not on your strength.” When we are wealthy and powerful and strong, there is the danger of thinking we are invulnerable, that no one and nothing can hurt us.
The recent People Power in Egypt has shown us how quickly wealth and power can be lost. Hosni Mubarak lost his power and the wealth of his arsenal in the blinking of an eye. He left the country which he ruled with iron hands for 30 years – losing his palatial home and his possessions before he knew what was really happening. He experienced helplessness.
Those who had previously possessed much of the oil of the world could not even find a barrel of it to fill up their cars, those who were fortunate enough to still have a car. They found themselves without water, without electricity, without the maid service they were once accustomed to snap their fingers for.
“Rely not on your wealth,” advises Sirach. “Say not: ‘I have the power.’ Rely not on your strength.” Mubarak and his family together with his wealthy relatives and friends believe in God; they pray many times a day. They were under the protection of a powerful country like America. What went wrong? Is there something wrong with their faith? Are their prayers without heart? Are their hearts without love? Did they value the wrong things?
Let us try to learn something from their tragedy. Let us not get carried away by the power and wealth of our nation. The same things can easily happen to us. Let us always seek the wealth and power and strength of God first. Then we will be able to handle and endure whatever else our future brings.
