THE FOUR BOOKS OF TIMOTHY TO THE CHURCH

No. 1     AVARICE, THE DESTROYER OF THE FAMILY AND OF THE CHURCH

The most serious and mortal disease of the soul which the most foul serpent breathes upon YOU with terrible envy is AVARICE.  No other disease can destroy a faithful soul or devastate your children more as avarice.  It is slavery to idolatry which many of you think of little account.  When the possessions given to you by God for acts of mercy and kindness you use for your own enjoyment. . .this is avarice.

Almost all Christians fall under the spell of avarice UNLIKE the first Christians who, surpassing in happiness, transferred all their worldly goods into eternal wealth in heaven.  They, sort of, punished themselves with their worldly goods by striving at a life of poverty in this world to buy immortal riches in heaven. 

Instead of living in poverty as the first Christians did, today's Christians live with avarice, greed and plunder WITH their sisterly vice of envy, enmity, cruelty, lust, shamefulness and destruction. 

O Christian soul, why do you use your good fortune to militate against your soul?  Your vices increase as the population; your lack of self-control increases in proportion to your increase of wealth.  The investment from your property brings in interest of great spiritual loss to you. 

Why is it that when the Church's members increase, their faith weakens?  Why is it when the children of the Church grow in number, Holy Mother the Church becomes sick?  YOU, the CHURCH, have become weak as your fertility increased.  You spread all over the world but you do not carry the force of true religion:  "And the multitude of believers had one heart and one soul AND NOBODY SAID ANYTHING OF THAT WHICH HE POSSESSED AS HIS OWN." 

You posses the name Christian in letters but lack the heart of a Christian.  You and your children deal in death-dealing business to the ruin of others and of your souls.  Your profit comes from loss of life.  You obtain things that are not yours.  What is yours, you squander.  You invest in treasures that bring brief joys to your heirs but eternal perdition for the same.  You put your treasures in banks. . .AND there goes your heart:  "Where your treasure is, there will be your heart."  

So your heart and soul meant for heaven are buried in the earth.  And since he whose heart is on the earth takes the nature of what he loves, your heart, therefore, becomes earth.  And when death comes, your hands shall be stretched  eternally at the things you want. . .the earth.  A pitiful sight, a soul made for heaven but stuck on earth. 

St. Salvian, Presbyter.

(03-25-04)