IV. How to use money?

Money rules everything and everyone. The only rule of money appears to be, get as much money as possible, as soon as posible and as easily as you can. But is that a good rule to rule the world? Should the church be concerned with it? Shouldn't the church leave secular matters to the secular world (Ceasar's) and be concerned only with the things of God's? On the other hand, Jesus had a lot to say about money. Shouldn't then the church live and help to live by Jesus' understandings on money? Should Christians view money differently? Are there moral limits to the pursuit of wealth and the use of money? How should we deal with money so that the flow of wealth can fuel the right social development?

51. Wealth is the result of work.

52. Money is only a means, not an end.

53. No one should ever be poor.

54. Money is not neutral. It is good and it is bad. 

55. What is mine is truly mine but not exclusively mine because all is for all. 

56. In extreme neeed one could help himself from the property of others but never steal. 

57. Giving the poor what they need is not charity, not even generosity but merely justice. 

58. Earn money honestly, spend it responsibly, save it prudentially, invest it wisely, donate it generously, receive it gratefully.

59. Profit is necessary but insufficient.

60. Self interest is an insufficient basis for the foundation of the economy.

61. The liberal market creates intemperance (imo)

62. Consumerism, speculation, tax evasion and waste are social sins.

63. The rich should be cautious.

64. Love the poor preferentially with all your pocket.

Money is not an end in itself; it should not be pursued for its own sake, as it often appears to be. Money represents the wealth that results from work and should be put at the service of the dignity of the person. Often the economic wellbeing of a society is wrongly understood as the landmark of development, neglecting, in the process, a more integral and wholesome development of society.

The concept of the common good also helps us understand that private property is a fundamental right, but not an absolute one. It should yield to the overall good of all in society.

As our societies become more polarized between ideologies that stress the unrestrained pursuit of wealth or the unrestrained equal distribution of wealth, we need to understand wealth as the means it is to its proper end, which is the development of the persons who form those societies.

If societies create pockets of poverty where people do not have enough to lead a life of dignity, those societies need to revise their policies and practices until no one is 'poor,' for 'no one should be poor among us.' At the same time, societies that ignore the dignity of work, where the worker is driven by his responsibility, and create societies where everything is leveled out, nullifying the individual contributions to societies, will also need to recalibrate their policies and practices.

The ultimate question for our individual and collective wealth is thus: Are we using it in a way that makes societies with better persons? What changes should we embrace for that to happen?