Despite the fact that people have all the time been clinging to the various joys of life unaware that they are mere "visitors" on this Earth and a time will come when they leave this life and be transferred to a different one, they still stick to the various pleasures of life, with the lust for money and wealth being on top of them. Regardless of the wealth that people garner from this mundane life, they still look for more in an endless pattern. This is the nature of humans.
The Holy Bible highlights this issue saying, "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (Timothy 6:10)
So why are people attracted by the "veneer" of money and the endless lust of possession? They do so under the impression that wealth and security go hand-in-hand. Thus, the greedy of this world hoard their treasures, refusing to enjoy it themselves or share it with others. In this case, money becomes a substitute for God, an idol. The greedy seek their identity and ultimate security in money. This is why Lord Jesus uses a parable and tells it to the crowd that surrounds him. He says, “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry'." “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:13-21)
People succumb to the illusion that wealth means security, so they puts trust in this which ultimately lets them down. They are unaware that the love of money is idolatry and the root of all evil.
In his reflections for the Sunday Angelus, July 31, Pope Francis focused on the insatiable desire for possessions saying that with people wanting more and more for themselves and so becoming slaves of "what paradoxically was meant to serve them so as to live freely and serenely." Warning that covetousness is also a dangerous ailment for society, the Pope warned that today our world is marked by huge inequalities, an "injustice never before seen in history, where few have so much and so many have little."
The Pope stressed that "we need more than just the accumulation of material goods to live well, we need good relationships with God and others, also those who have less. Let us all endeavor to become rich not through greed, but through 'good works that are not forgotten, people that I have helped to grow and mature,"' in our lives and efforts, a good inheritance to leave for others."
Lord Jesus sends a resounding message to humans by calling on them not to worry about life. He says, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? (Matthew 6: 25-34)
In this regard, Lord Jesus instructs us to love one another, not to be greedy, and not to worry about anything because He is our Lord Who cares for us in every respect, protects us from danger, and saves us whenever we are in the middle of a strong storm.
