Whats Your Perspective?

As a father of a large Catholic family, there is always an underlying anxiety about the financial goings on in the household. There always seems to be something that has not been budgeted for, some unexpected expense or desire that one may need or want. This can become a serious problem for many families. It breeds a tension in the household and a topic for argument. There are a couple of solutions to this issue:  The first is to be more flexible in your budget and the second is a change in perspective. There are presented here a couple of problems. The first is financial discipline and the second is an improper focus on what is good.

                In regard to the fiscal responsibility, there are numerous methods of keeping better track of spending and book-keeping. My goal is not to focus much on this aspect, because by finding the solution to the second, the prior problem becomes easier to handle. The second problem or question, “What should be our outlook in regard to money and having enough of it?” is an important one, because I find no matter how often I read or hear in a sermon the idea of “spiritual poverty”, I seem over time, to frequently become distracted and soon forget the ever important concept of spiritual poverty. Spiritual poverty is an idea of dependence on God for everything. I have also heard it presented, regardless of the quantity of money you poses, you should always seek the lesser in degree and fewer in quantity of everything you acquire. This topic would not be complete unless we reference our Lord in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom.”

I believe we can all agree that most people stress about money; it always come down to the idea or belief that we just don’t have enough of it. I want to pose another question to you:  What would you do if you were very wealthy? I know the term wealthy is relative, but I mean, what if you had an amount equal to say… Bill Gates?  What would you do with that money that you could not do now? Take some time to really think about it. In my answers, I mentioned a few things about travel, giving to the poor, and of course a few selfish interests. Next, take those things or activities and scale them down a bit and ask yourself, is there a way I can have these things, but in a modest manner? I bet you would find that most of the things you mentioned can be done at a degree much more simple than before. Lastly, take those items after you had given them a touch of humility and tell me, are they any less meaningful after you have pared them down?

When we have more and do more, it isn’t hard to start expecting that we need to maintain that degree of living. Let us take a new car for example. If I were to go out and buy a new passenger van that my wife and I have been wanting, there are obviously a number of things that come with that new vehicle: a car payment, more insurance, gas expenses etc.  In a few years time, that car would have many miles accumulated and because we had purchased a new one, we are spoiled to that comfort. Consequently, when the time comes to replace that one, a precedence has been set. We have just developed a standard of living that may or may not be realistic or wise. Another example like this is a new electronic device. With this you have: the cost of the device, the monthly expense for Internet and also any accessories to protect it. In a year’s time that device has become slow and out of date and must now be replaced with a new and possibly more expensive version. This concept is applicable to all things in life, whether they are fancy new clothes, shoes, tools, etc; the list is infinite. You can easily see that with increased goods and increased quality, our standards increase and can become idolatrous if not checked; we become slaves to our goods in a sense. I bet we can all remember a time when we got in a little over our heads financially; I can remember more than just a few. This is why it is important to teach our children at a very young age the concepts of mortification and spiritual poverty. Practically speaking, if your child has some money and wants to purchase something, try to convince them to either do without it or choose the lesser option as a mortification. The concept will stick with them and much fruit will be born from this exercise.

Epicurus, a philosopher in the fourth century B.C. is known for his idea on seeking pleasure and avoiding pain. This is where we get the term epicurean; which is one who seeks the finer things in life.  By reading this you may think that he sought after luxuriant things and lived the high life, this is actually not at all what he taught. His concept of pleasure wasn’t exactly what you think. By pleasure, he means the good and simple things; not some hedonistic approach to life. This term's meaning has been twisted over the centuries. He advocated a life that was simple and moderate; not too focused on any particular thing, especially food, sex or politics. As you can see, this idea goes pretty far back. It is easy to sometimes think that all our Christian ideas are novel; novel in the sense that they started in Christianity. I have recently been impressed to learn that many jewels of wisdom have been gleaned from the early philosophers and have been adopted by our beloved Faith.

To put a bow on this, I go back to the idea of perspective. What do I perceive to be good for me? What will produce the least amount of anxiety for my life? If we, as often as we can remember consider the teaching of poverty of spirit and seeking the simple and good, we will be able to eliminate a great deal of anxiety and stress about money in our lives. My recommendation to you is to get together with a friend, eat a sandwich, drink some home-brew and maybe go for a walk.  This is a modest replacement for going out to a nice restaurant, spending money on food you don’t need and time dealing with people you normally wouldn’t have to. Use your imagination; I’m in the process of redeveloping mine.

Pax