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Chapter 16ViaRegia.1.16

De non fidendo divitiis

The Vanity of Earthly Riches

The author warns against placing trust in fleeting worldly wealth, urging the reader to store up treasures in heaven instead.

And because the Lord has mercifully granted you royal and abundant riches in this life, you must handle them wisely, so that you may find many of them stored up in the homeland to come. For no other riches truly deserve to be called riches, except those that have been happily laid away in the heavenly treasury. So listen to the Apostle, King, and don't put your trust in the fleeting riches of this age, but in those from which, once you have given them to the poor, you will have built a heavenly treasure. For Paul the Apostle says: Charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded, and not to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly supplies us with everything for our enjoyment—to do good, to become rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of true life.✦ For it is the work of mercy and justice that advocates for a person after death, not riches. For Solomon says: Riches will do no good on the day of reckoning; but justice will deliver from death.✦1 For whoever trusts in his riches will fall; but the just will sprout like a green leaf.✦ David also says: Do not put your hope in injustice, and do not covet plunder. If riches increase, do not set your heart on them. The one who sets his heart on riches is the one who believes that unique happiness lies in them.2

The Futility of Hoarding

Those who hoard wealth for themselves rather than sharing with the poor find only emptiness and vanity at the end of their lives.

This man sets his heart on these things so thoroughly that he won't give his goods to the poor, but would rather chase after even more. He doesn't want to spend his gold — he wants to walk on it. He doesn't want to give his estates freely to the needy, but to pile them up and keep them for his heirs.3 And so, after death, they find nothing, because in life they gave the poor nothing. The Psalmist speaks fittingly of them: They slept their sleep, and all the men of riches found nothing in their hands. To this same end, Solomon delivered a carefully weighed verdict about his own riches, saying: I made my works magnificent; I built myself houses and planted vineyards; I made gardens and orchards, and planted them with trees of every kind; and I built myself pools of water to irrigate the grove of growing trees. I owned male and female slaves, and I had a large household; I had herds and great flocks of sheep, too—more than all who had been before me in Jerusalem. And I saw in all of this vanity and affliction of soul, and that nothing lasts under the sun.

The Stewardship of Mercy

Wealth is not inherently evil, but becomes a blessing when used as a tool for mercy and charity toward the needy.

The Psalmist doesn't condemn having abundant riches; what he forbids is setting your heart on them. Wealth that is justly gathered won't hurt you, provided you distribute it generously. For from them the gift of mercy is held out to the needy; from them the nakedness of the poor is covered; from them the want of strangers is supplied; from them the misery of orphans is wiped away; from them comfort is given to widows; from them the hunger of the starving is driven off; from them the thirst of the thirsty is put to flight; from them the needs of the sick are met; from them those who receive will be freed from their miseries, and the faithful steward of those riches will be made rich in the age to come.✦✦✦4

Read the original Latin

Et quia tibi Dominus misericorditer regias concessit in praesenti saeculo et largas divitias, solerter agere debes, ut multas invenias ex illis in futura patria repositas. Neque enim aliae veraciter dicendae sunt divitiae, nisi illae quae in coelesti thesauro feliciter sunt reconditae. Audi ergo, rex, Apostolum, et noli confidere in caducis istius praesentis saeculi divitiis, sed in illis de quibus pauperibus erogatis coelestem thesaurum aedificaveris: ait enim Paulus apostolus: Divitibus hujus saeculi praecipe non sublime sapere, neque sperare in incerto divitiarum, sed in Deo vivo (qui praestat nobis omnia abunde ad fruendum), bene agere, divites fieri in bonis operibus, facile tribuere, communicare, thesaurizare sibi fundamentum bonum in futurum, ut apprehendant veram vitam. Opus enim misericordiae et justitiae patrocinatur homini post mortem, non divitiae, Sic enim Salomon ait: Non proderunt divitiae in die ultionis: justitia autem liberabit a morte. Quia qui confidit in divitiis suis, corruet: justi autem quasi virens folium germinabunt. David quoque ait: Nolite sperare in iniquitate, et rapinas nolite concupiscere. Divitiae si affluant, nolite cor apponere. Ille divitiis cor apponit, qui in ipsis singularem esse felicitatem credit.

Iste sic illis cor apponit, ut non velit res pauperibus erogare, sed magis eas ambire. Non vult aurum suum expendere, sed calcare: patrimonia sua non vult egenis largiri, sed haeredibus congregata servare. Et ideo post mortem nihil inveniunt, quia in vita pauperibus nihil tribuunt. De quibus congrue Psalmista ait: Dormierunt somnum suum, et nihil invenerunt omnes viri divitiarum in manibus suis. Ad hunc finem Salomon de divitiis suis computatam sententiam produxit, ubi ait: Magnificavi opera mea, aedificavi mihi domos, et plantavi vineas, feci hortos, pomaria, et consevi ea cuncti generis arboribus, et exstruxi mihi piscinas aquarum, ut irrigarem silvam lignorum germinantium. Possedi servos et ancillas, multamque familiam habui, armenta quoque et magnos ovium greges, ultra omnes qui fuerunt ante me in Hierusalem. Et vidi in his omnibus vanitatem et afflictionem animi, et nihil permanere sub sole.

Largas enim divitias Psalmographus habere non damnat, sed ne cor illis apponatur vetat. Non tibi oberit divitiarum congregatio justa, si adfuerit distributio larga. Ex illis enim munus misericordiae egenis porrigitur; ex illis pauperum nuditas operi tur; ex illis peregrinorum inopia suppletur; ex illis pupillorum miseria detergitur; ex illis viduarum solatia tribuuntur; ex illis esurientium fames repellitur; ex illis sitientium sitis fugatur; ex illis infirmantium desideria supplentur; ex illis accipientes a miseriis liberabuntur, et illarum fidelis dispensator in futuro ditabitur.

Scripture echoes

  1. ↩1Tim.6.17-1Tim.6.19 — Command those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 1Tim.6.18 — to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share 1Tim.6.19 — storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that truly is life.
  2. ↩Prov.11.4 — Riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
  3. ↩Prov.11.28 — Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.
  4. ↩Matt.25.35-Matt.25.36 — For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me in; Matt.25.36 — I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and you came to me.
  5. ↩Jas.1.27 — Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
  6. ↩Luke.12.42 — And the Lord said, 'Who then is the faithful and wise manager whom the master will put in charge of his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?'

Notes

  1. 1 ↩patrocinatur: rendered 'advocates for' (legal/patron sense); alternatives include 'defends' or 'stands surety for'.
  2. 2 ↩singularem felicitatem: rendered 'unique happiness' (happiness as the one special good found in riches); 'singular' or 'exclusive' would also fit.
  3. 3 ↩calcare (of gold) is rendered as the luxury/hoarding image of treading gold underfoot, set against expendere (spend/put to use).
  4. 4 ↩Normalized text prints 'operi tur' as two tokens; translated as intended 'operitur' ('is covered').

Via Regia (The Royal Road) companion

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