God’s word says:
“Store up treasures in heaven.” (Mt 6:20)
“You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mt 6:24)
“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God… . Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows.” (Lk 12:6-7)
The secular world wants me to say:
“My self worth is determined by how much I own or how much I can buy.” Love, given or received, is measured by material standards.
-From Examination of Conscience, The Year of Faith: Five Wounds of Secularization. Office of New Evangelization, Diocese of Salina (KS)
I’m not a big material guy, though I am a big enough guy that it takes a lot of material to cover me (i.e. XXL). I’m my wife’s worst nightmare: gently over-used T-shirts from college, shoes with holes in the soles, laptop computer I found in the trash at work, etc. You get the picture. I’m not a much of a latest gadget kind of a guy. But I do have my moments.
I think we all get caught up in the materialistic society we walk in. It’s hard not to. Some of this stuff is pretty darn cool. I fought the power when upgrading phones last year, but I now admit this smartphone is a nice tool for a writer.
The problem with materialism/consumerism arises when we become obsessed with these “things” when they call our name from their shiny, highly visible places of our media-soaked world. The problem drags us down when we worship these material goods and suffer the subsequent weakening of our faith in God.
As I work through Five Wounds of Secularization (Busyness, Consumerism/Materialism, Violence/Revenge, Individualism, and Entitlement) in the Holy Father’s Year of Faith, I am praying to and studying the Holy Family as a spiritual guide. They are perfect examples for us to follow in the Age of Consumerism. Simple living; holy living.
The Holy Family sacrificed the worldly riches for God’s promise of heavenly riches. Can you imagine the earthly rewards they could have asked God for? The possibilities are endless. But that was not what they were about. Joseph and Mary were simple, humble, and faithful human beings. They passed this to Jesus through the example of their everyday actions.
Absence of faith, let’s call it the Anti-Faith, lies at the very core of materialism and consumerism. We search for happiness in those shiny things the snappy advertisements bombard us with, instead of building happiness on the powerful God-centered faith. The Anti-Faith eats its way out of the core and instead of true happiness; it delivers only a momentary joy, followed by an ever-repeating cycle of want for the next shiny trinket.
It’s tough to fight the power. Seriously tough.
We can have all the possessions we need to provide true happiness, but feel empty and unfulfilled because we don’t have THE NEXT BIG THING. It’s a constant never slow down trip on the treadmill of materialism. More, more, more.
Next time temptation rears its head with materialistic riches and the Anti-Faith seductively whispers our name, remember, God wants us by his side. To God, we are “worth more than many sparrows.”
Love is not measured by material standards.
Copyright © 2013, Mike Hays
Mike Hays
Mike Hays is a husband, a father of three, a lifelong Kansan and works as a molecular microbiologist. Besides writing, he has been a high school strength and conditioning coach, a football coach and a baseball coach. His debut middle grade historical fiction novel, THE YOUNGER DAYS, is a 2012 recipient of The Catholic Writer's Guild Seal of Approval Award. You can find it at the publisher's website or on Amazon.
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