DAY 21

The next two enemies both fit under sins of the world: greed and envy. When our hearts are bound to the world the holy desires that God places within us are choked, suffocated and squeezed out. At best, there is no longer any time for God and the desires of our hearts.

During this part of our journey, we must continue our life of prayer and communion with God while maintaining deliberate diligence to counteract the effects of sin. The last four days were spent examining the flesh, attempting to mortify our passions and liberate our bondage. Now we turn to the sins of the world:

Am I actively working to make progress against “the world”?

• Have I actively avoided activities to spend more time on my spiritual life?
• Do I have a specific time limit on media consumption to “free up” time that I can spend with God, family and friends?
• Have I ever changed the nature of a friendship or business relationship that leads to sin?
• Do I have a budget that I follow with the appropriate person?
• Do I forgo material desires so that I can be more charitable to the Church and other people? Do I live below my means?

These are some examples of spiritual practices that we can engage in to arm ourselves as we seek a greater freedom from the grips and suffocation of the world. Christ proclaimed, “I have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Let’s charge right in and engage combat with our first enemy: greed.

“Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). Scripture equates covetousness, which is another word for greed, with idolatry. In fact, anything we place above God in our hearts and minds can become an idol, even if it can be construed as a good thing. As such, Scripture places a bone-chilling emphasis on money as highlighted in the following verses:

• The eye of the covetous man is insatiable in his portion of iniquity: he will not be satisfied till he consumes his own soul (Sirach 14:9).
• The love of money is the root of all evil (1 Tim 6:10).
• No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

I’ve heard it said that you can have money, you just cannot let money have you. Pray for the grace to see money as God’s money, a tool properly used to bless others. It’s not for you to possess or indeed it will possess you. “The precept of detachment from riches is obligatory for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven” (CCC 2544).

St. Luke gives us the antidote, “...give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Luke 12: 33–34)

Once again, it’s a matter of the heart, and God desires to set your heart free.