Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
I serve two masters. The Lord clearly warns me not to in today's Gospel, but the reality is that I do. I'm not sure I would say my second master is mammon, but it is my past decisions with money. I've become more and more convicted of this fact as I've reflected on how the Bible handles the issue of money. We recently ran Financial Peace University at Immaculate Conception and through reflections on my life and that program I've seen how I serve to masters. I'm indebted to two masters.
The first is the Lord. In anticipation of an eternity spent with Him the Lord as lent me a foretaste of heaven. I've been offered a share in the divine life. I've been given freedom from my past sins and the promise of mercy when I come to Him in the future. I've been given the incredible gift of knowing the Lord's great love every time I look upon a crucifix. I am truly indebted to the one who restored my relationship with the Father and gives me the Spirit. As our Gospel acclamation today says, "Jesus Christ became poor although he was rich, So that by his poverty you might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). All that is asked of me in return is to trust Him, love Him, and love all that He loves (aka everyone).
The second is my debt. My literal debt. I serve those to whom I'm indebted. A portion of my income goes to them. Bess and I consider these second masters in our discernment about how our family can best be a domestic Church. A place where God is Lord over our family. However, He has competition. We've invited him to be the Lord over our time and money as long as we can make enough money to pay our loans. We even have to consider our debt in our discernment about our children and what is best for them.
I'm not saying we shouldn't pay out debts. Justice demands it!
But I've come to realize that I used to breeze over this passage, "You cannot serve God and Mammon" and think that would never apply to me. But it does. I've tried to serve both God and my debt and Jesus is right, you will hate one and love the other. I'm choosing to hate debt and love the Lord. I want to be able to respond quickly, generously, and freely to God's call and not have my second master whisper in my ear how am I going to pay him back.
There is only one to whom I wish to be indebted; the one for whom a crown of thorns was good enough.
- Spencer Hargadon