Poor for God's Kingdom

“You're a child of God. Made by God, for God's purposes, destined to live with him in eternity...how often do you aver to that fact in the course of the week? How often do you explore your deepest religious identity?”

“In my view, taking care of God´s creation doesn’t mean living an uncomfortable life, but rather it means managing well what is so generously offered by our Mother Earth. We have the technology and the knowledge to do so, yet we continue our destructive ways.”

“Perhaps instead of emphasising how wicked it is to be a slave to Mammon, we should begin with the joys of being a slave to God. After all, if no servant can have two masters, it is equally true that no servant can have no master.”

“True freedom is not the liberty to oppress others, but the ability to free them.”

“Evil desires are never simply something different from good desires. Instead they are a parody of the good. The wicked are like people who build a plane which is perfect in every way, except that it can’t fly.”

“We must not fall into a cramped, obsessive, view of possessions or a cramped, obsessive, view of our own practical strivings”

“this is how God behaves towards us. Setting aside all that hinders us coming to God to enter into our complex world, flesh of our flesh in Jesus, to show us that we are all invited to become friends of God, or at least some indebtedness to God and freed to love as extravagantly, as inclusively as God loves.”

“Are we convinced that a threat to our spiritual welfare can be just as grave, in fact, graver than threats to our financial well-being, threats to our physical health? And are we willing accordingly to act?”

“This is the virtue of the unjust steward. His vision is clear, his judgment is right and then his action is now. I think in all these ways, Christians, we can learn even from this kind of funny, despicable character. He sees, he judges and he acts.”

“Decisive action is the end result of awakening to crisis and I think that's what Jesus wants us to see today”

“Giving away some of what we have will certainly reduce our financial portfolio. But it will also show who is our master and that we understand what true wealth is.”

“The core direction Jesus is giving is that disciples mix with “the world” and use strategies that work in the world to meet people where they are in the world, but they are to be true to God. They are to serve THEIR master, who is God.”

“How we use money and how we treat other human beings, whether we know them or not, is one of the ways in which we accept or reject the gift of salvation. The Lord desires us to be saved: how in my life do I accept his gracious opportunity each day?”

“All of us are members of the Church, and we’ve all got the responsibility to build the kingdom of God. Have we squandered the “resources” God has given to us or are we still good stewards?”

“If we isolate ourselves we have only what we have grown up with; we cannot develop culturally. But if we seek out other people, we go out of ourselves and start the most beautiful adventures. We grow, we develop and mature.”

“The world encourages an attitude in which we use people to gain things. Jesus reverses this: use things to gain people. If spending money and giving goods can open others to friendship with the Church and ultimately Christ Himself, then spend the money, give the goods.”

“Whatever we do with the gifts God has given us, there is no way we can diminish his dominion or subtract from his majesty. Indeed, God who has lavished gifts upon us actually wishes us to lavish those gifts on others.”

“our choices do have an impact. They affect ourselves and those around us, in ways we cannot comprehend. There is a connectedness to everything in life, throughout humanity and this earth, amidst our very souls glued together by God’s Spirit.”

“As the prophet Amos reminds us, too, sinful decisions about wealth are not a ‘victimless crime’, either. To pursue wealth at all costs is to oppress the poor, and is thus a grave injustice.”

“When we experience a lack of trust we live with uncertainty and even, at times, fear...Trust, on the other hand, leads to peace and harmony.”

“The person who understands God’s kingdom understands that everything that we have been given has been given to us to share. Faithful stewardship requires giving back part of what we have been given.”

“May the power you legitimately exercise always be animated by love”

“if you say economic and political power precisely for the purposes of God, good. Now exercise that power as much as you want. There's the subtle, balanced approach to power that we find in the Bible.”