Being wealthy is not bad in itself, but....
He was a man of great wealth (Mark 10, 22)
Jesus was setting out on a journey when a man ran up, knelt before him and put this question to him, ‘Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You must not kill; You must not commit adultery; You must not steal; You must not bring false witness; You must not defraud; Honour your father and mother.’ And he said to him, ‘Master, I have kept all these from my earliest days.’ Jesus looked steadily at him and loved him, and he said, ‘There is one thing you lack. Go and sell everything you own and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But his face fell at these words and he went away sad, for he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked round and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!’ The disciples were astounded by these words, but Jesus insisted, ‘My children,’ he said to them ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were more astonished than ever. ‘In that case’ they said to one another ‘who can be saved?’ Jesus gazed at them. ‘For men’ he said ‘it is impossible, but not for God: because everything is possible for God.’ (Mark 10, 17-27)
Jesus does not consider wealth an evil in itself. He had financiers and among the apostles, there was a cashier and therefore a common fund. This is why his teachings indicate that so much good can be done with money. But, above all, Jesus asks to be loved more than any other creature and more than mortal security. For this reason, we could be asked to give up our wealth as well if it prevents us from doing His divine will. In fact, the poor find it less difficult than the rich to entrust themselves completely to God since they are used to not having material wealth to rely on, nor to owning things. Without Grace, however, neither the rich nor the poor can be saved. Let's make sure that we never miss out on this Grace by frequently receiving the Sacraments. When you were the same age as the rich young man in the gospel, if Jesus had asked you, would you have given up all your wealth to follow Him?
