DeoOmnisGloria.com

Chesterton on the Problem of Wealth

Greetings All! It is wonderful to be back for two reasons. First, because I am now a happily married man, and while the honeymoon was an adventure, I am longing for "the wildness of domesticity" (Brave New Family, Chesterton). Second, because I have missed this cyber home of ours, this tremendous place of liberty and love.

I wanted to shed some Chestertonian light on this topic of the problem of wealth that Jay had touched on several days ago. I say touched on because Jay mentioned that there are "many moral problems with riches." I wanted to share some of G. K. Chesterton's thoughts on some specific problems in relation to the life of home and family.

In the fabulous collection, Brave New Family published by Ignatius Press we find Chesterton stating the following:

"In the course of this crude study we shall have to touch on what is called the problem of poverty, especially the dehumanised poverty of modern industrialism. But in this primary matter of the ideal the difficulty is not the problem of poverty, but the problem of wealth. It is the special psychology of leisure and luxury that falsifies life...But of all the modern notions generated by mere wealth the worst is this: the notion that domesticity is dull and tame. Inside the home (they say) is dead decorum and routine; outside is adventure and variety. This is indeed a rich man's opinion...For the truth is, that to the moderately poor the home is the only place of liberty. Nay, it is the only place of anarchy. It is the only spot on the earth where a man can alter arrangements suddenly, make an experiment or indulge in a whim...He can eat his meals on the floor in his own house if he likes...For a plain, hard-working man the home is not the one tame place in the world of adventure. It is the one wild place in the world of rules and set tasks."

Let us think about this for a moment. Certainly, there are wealthy individuals and families that lead holy lives, that contribute to the good of the Church and humanity at large. But the magic, the adventure of life lies in not knowing what lies ahead. It makes the present that much sweeter. What if this is as good as it will get for us, materially speaking? We had better enjoy it and be thankful. The wealthy individual, on the other hand, Christian or pagan, knows, with fairly sound certainity, what tomorrow holds. They often chose their tomorrow, except for the reality of death and departure. The adventure of the domestic life loses something in this. I can organize and structure my sacrifices and create my charities if I have wealth.

The wealthy rarely are depicted in Sacred Scripture as the adventurous sort, though one did climb trees (Luke 19:1-10). A great part of the joy of life is the journey of life, lived through the home and the family. Wealth often leads to the forgetting of this. Even the noble minded would have a hard time trusting in God as he commanded us to (Matthew 6:25 - 34). When one's every need is provided for one loses the greatest opportunity of absolute faith...total and complete trust in God and his plan for one's life.

So with the writer of Proverbs, I will boldly proclaim..."Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full, and deny thee"(Proverbs 30:8-9). And with St. Faustina I will hastily pray..."Jesus, I trust in you." Amen.

Pax et bonum

Joe