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00:00Very good,
00:29So we're back again to continue this topic about what Pablo thinks about the
00:35St. Paul's spirituality regarding material things. Well, on the subject of money,
00:45Saint Paul had clearly understood the value of freedom and knew that a great obstacle is the
00:51The desire for wealth. He tells Timothy this in no uncertain terms. I would like us to read this
00:59The text is from 1 Timothy, chapter 6, and we are going to read verses 7 through 10. The apostle says
01:08Saint Paul, because we brought nothing into the world, so we can take nothing out of it. And if we have to eat
01:17And with what we have to cover ourselves, we are content. But those who want to get rich fall into temptation.
01:26and in many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and perdition.
01:33Check verse 10. For the love of money is the root of all evil, by which, coveting it
01:45Some have strayed from the faith and tormented themselves with many sufferings. Look at this terrible text,
01:54Right? The love of money. Because of this love of money, many people have been lost and brought to ruin.
02:03Great evils. In some translations it says, great evils have been brought about. We can see in this text
02:12Paul's clear thinking on the subject of money. And we see that money itself is not bad.
02:19Paul and Jesus had many wealthy friends. We have, for example, Philemon, Zacchaeus,
02:28Joseph of Arimathea and so many others. The problem is always ambition, which naturally
02:37It ends in a deep selfishness that makes us ignore others. Jesus, in this sense, tells
02:44A tremendous parable. We call it the parable of Lazarus or the rich man. That rich man who, well, is going to scorn
02:55This Lazarus is driven by the love of money. In it we see what money can become.
03:05What money damages a person at a certain moment, despite seeing it every day
03:13poor Lazarus, starving at his doorstep. In other words, he couldn't help but see him.
03:18because he was at his front door. This man's heart had hardened.
03:23to the point of not even giving him the crumbs that fell from his table.
03:30And the truth is, my brothers, the love of money ends up blinding people.
03:35There is a story about this concerning a king in India. In this story we are told
03:44There was a king in India who was very rich. However, he had a reputation for being completely...
03:50indifferent to material wealth. The story goes that a subject, on one occasion,
03:58This subject wanted to find out the secret that kept the king tied to his possessions
04:05And he asked him to reveal that secret. The king said to him, "I will reveal my secret to you."
04:14But first you must tour my palace with me to understand the magnitude of my wealth.
04:20But I'm going to ask you one thing. You must bring a lit candle with you. If this candle goes out,
04:32I'll cut off your head. They say the subject accepted the challenge. At the end of this tour of the entire palace
04:43The king looked at him intently and asked, "What do you think of my riches? Have you seen them?"
04:52This man replied, "No, I didn't see anything, Your Majesty." As I walked, I was only worried that the
05:02My flame will never go out. The king said, "That's my secret. I'm so busy fanning the flame within me."
05:12internal, that I'm not interested in external riches. What a significant story? To stir the
05:21The flame of the heart, keep it alive. A beautiful story that shows us that what is important, like what
05:31Paul presents Christ. The rest is just rubbish. Things that, while important, aren't worth it if they're not
05:40We compare it to the value of knowing, loving, and being loved by Christ. When God is at the center
05:49of our hearts, when our concern is to rekindle our relationship with Him, for what will we
05:56Is everything else of interest? Let's work for inner goods, let's work for what's inside.
06:02from us. The rest comes as a bonus. We don't need anything more. And, on the other hand, always in reference to the
06:18Regarding possessions, the Christian should live without worrying about money, because he knows that he always has a God.
06:26Provident. Saint Paul writes this to the Philippians. In his letter to the Philippians, in the
06:34In chapter 4, there are a couple, three verses, a couple of verses that I find very beautiful. I would like to
06:42I wanted you to underline them, because I have them underlined in all my Bibles. Come on, Philippians chapter 4,
06:49Verses 11-13. Not that I speak from need, for I have learned to be content in
06:59Whatever my situation, I know how to live in poverty and I know how to live in prosperity. In everything and for
07:08I have learned the secret of being content and of being hungry, of having plenty and of being content
07:17To suffer want. And verse 13 reveals to us, as in the king, the secret. I can do all things.
07:27in Christ who strengthens me. This, my brothers, this is the secret. This text makes it clear, then.
07:38We are grateful for the help we receive, like Paul who thanked the Philippians. Thank you for
07:45Worried about me, right? But God provides. God continually gives us what we need.
07:56In this text, Saint Paul reveals his stance on need. He needs nothing more. Christ fills everything.
08:07He is the secret. He is what strengthens him at all times and makes him value things in a way that...
08:14These things, if they have them, are important in their lives, but when they don't have them, nothing happens.
08:24If I have it, great. And if not, well, that's okay too. Poverty and wealth are changing circumstances.
08:33fortuitous, as for us too, which should not disturb inner peace and joy.
08:39Sometimes we have things going really well at work, in business, everything is working out great. Then suddenly,
08:44Boom, everything falls apart. We leave work, things get tight. We have to sell the house, the cars,
08:49We need to take the children out of private schools, I don't know. We go through situations
08:57Unstable in this world. Poverty and wealth. They alternate in our lives. Sometimes
09:01We have more, sometimes we have less. But that's going to take away our peace. Of course not. We have
09:09a provident God. Saint Paul teaches that every Christian should always feel assisted.
09:17Because of a loving father who provides for him, who will make sure he lacks nothing. Because
09:23That is, as he says to his apostle Timothy, if we have food to eat, clothing to wear, then we are already
09:34We're ready. I mean, we'll be happy. Enough! But no, we want more and more.
09:40And more. I want one car, and two, and three, and four, and two houses, and three houses, and a million and five.
09:43Millions and billions. And when we fill up, we never fill up.
09:52That is why Jesus, on this subject, gives an extensive sermon to help the community
09:58to live in peace, regardless of the circumstances, because we have a loving Father who is always there for us.
10:04He is watching over us. For Him, as Jesus says, we are more valuable than the birds.
10:11And the flowers, so we shouldn't worry about the dress or the food. Rather,
10:19We must seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. We must strive to keep the flame burning.
10:26in our hearts, as the king in the story said. For if we do this, everything else will fall into place.
10:33In addition. But no, we are worried about having more, about taking care of it, about not losing it.
10:40It is true that we are stewards; we have to take care of what has been entrusted to us. But this does not mean we
10:46It should not take away our peace, nor should we be bound to any of this, because we know that we have a Father
10:52which provides us. We can then see that the Christian life does indeed require freedom, to live without
11:03attachments, otherwise following the Lord becomes very burdensome. We must have a relationship with
11:11Things that are always subordinate to the kingdom. It's not bad to have things, it's bad that things overwhelm us.
11:21Have us. The Christian must have the capacity to leave what he has to follow Christ.
11:30with radicalism. We have to have that capacity for detachment. To have without holding on. Things in
11:42They themselves are not bad. That is why Saint Paul makes a comparison in which he refers to them
11:48Christ. So if we compare them, our relationship with him is beyond compare.
11:55Christ, to the point that everything else seems like garbage. But it's because I have the sun here.
12:02I have, imagine, the sun. You're seeing the sun. I don't know if you've suddenly done these things, had
12:11This situation of staring at the sun for a while shouldn't be done too often because
12:16We could even go blind. The sunlight is so intense that it can burn our retinas.
12:22What does the eye do when it sees an extremely intense light like sunlight? It closes. And it closes so much that
12:33When we stop seeing the sun, we can't see anything anymore. Everything looks dark until little by little
12:41Our retina opens again, little by little, and then we begin to see. When I am
12:50Always looking to Christ, for everything else no longer has any meaning. Saint Paul, writing to
13:00The Corinthians, a community that, as we saw at the time, was always greatly influenced by
13:07pagan culture, which wrongly values material possessions and despises spiritual ones,
13:15He writes the following to them. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 7, verses 28 through 32. A very...
13:23important that helps us understand part of our culture.
13:28But if you marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. However, they will have
13:38I want to avoid problems in this life. But I say this, brothers, the time is short,
13:47So from now on those who have wives should be as though they did not have them, and those who mourn should be as though they did not.
13:53as if they did not weep, and those who rejoice as if they did not rejoice, and those who buy as if they did not
14:00They had nothing, and those who take advantage of the world as if they weren't fully enjoying it. Because appearances
14:07life in this world is fleeting. I want you to be free from all worry. That is to say,
14:15What does the apostle tell us in this text? Does he want us to be free? Completely free. Nothing should bind us.
14:23To bind. Christ must be the central value. Jesus said, if you do not love me more than your father or your mother,
14:34You are not worthy of me. It's a comparison. It's a comparison. Compared to Christ, compared to the
14:41kingdom, everything becomes polarized, because that makes us free, so that we can ascend to the Lord.
14:49In this text, although the context is the imminent coming in glory of the Lord, who always
14:55That's valid, since we don't know the day or the time, but it's important to work on gradually unwinding.
15:04of everything, so that even having it, we live as if we did not. Saint Ignatius of Loyola
15:12He spoke of the use of goods and said that one should enter into what he called the holy
15:20indifference. That is, availability or neglect. Not in the sense of laziness or of
15:29It is not negligence, but rather surrender into the hands of God. That is to say, it is a detachment from our own will.
15:36To want what God wants. Indifference is the willingness to know God's will.
15:44and follow it. No one is indifferent; rather, we must become indifferent. That is why the saint said,
15:53If being poor allows me to serve you better, then I want to be poor. But if being rich ...
16:02To serve you better, then I want you to give me wealth. If I am more useful to you when I am healthy, then
16:09Then I want you to give me health. But if I serve you better when I'm sick, then I want you to give me health.
16:16To be sick. This was the practical way in which holy indifference was referred to. And that is what we
16:26We must go walking. Saint Paul is the perfect model of this and therefore worthy of imitation. There is, therefore,
16:35that we must ask for this indifference in order to be happy in every circumstance, knowing that God is ours.
16:42loving provider. I end this section on material things with these beautiful words.
16:50from the apostle, which I think summarizes what we have seen and invites us to aspire to heavenly things.
16:59Underline this quote, Colossians 3, verses 1-5.
17:03Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the throne.
17:11Right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things, for they have died.
17:19And his life is hidden in Christ, in God. When Christ, our life, has been revealed,
17:29Then you also will appear with Him in glory. See how this summarizes one
17:38This relationship with things is perfect and wonderful. Very similar to the passage about the kingdom,
17:46That's true. Seek the things above, seek to be filled with God, keep your heart burning.
17:54the flame that God has kindled in our hearts. And all the rest will certainly come through the work of God.
18:01Our Lord and also your effort. Well, let's leave our reflection here and in our
18:09In the next section we will talk about a truly important topic, the topic of...
18:16Passions, the flesh, the world, worldliness. We'll be back in a moment.
18:31Thank you.