God And Mammon

In the Seoul Diocesan Bulletin, a music critic gives us some thoughts on giving up love for gold. She goes back to her childhood, when she  occasionally saw neck scarfs made from the skins of foxes and weasels. She recalls how scared she was when she saw the face of the fox with its pointed nose and tail. The animals seemed ready to come back to life. They were killed to be of service to humans, and she found that sad.

Many years later when she was in Germany studying; she went to a natural history museum where she saw many fur coats on display. One of the coats was a leopard fur coat, with this explanation attached: "If you want to wear this beautiful coat it will mean that three leopards have to die." It was beautifully made, like a flower in bloom.

When she was visiting  there was a group of elementary school children present, and she over heard them say it was beautiful, and "I will never wear a fur coat." This was, she noted, the very feeling that those who  prepared the exhibition wanted  to hear. Educational results were quickly seen.

On German TV, you often see the places they raise animals, and the cruel ways the animals are killed for their fur. These scenes are shown to the viewers with the hope that shocked those buying fur coats will decrease. If citizens don't want them, the killings will end is the intention.  

In the past people who lived in cold places needed warm skins of animals to keep them warm but today more than warmth they are captivated by the beauty and hope it will reflect their own beauty, and a symbol of their personal abundance. However, fear that it will be lost is also the results of their possession.

A person who has an old car and another who has just bought a new expensive car and parks in front of an eating place their thinking is different. Where your treasure is there is your heart, Luke 12:34.

We can't find words that come right to the point, and said so clearly as these words of Jesus.
 
She brings to our attention the opera by Richard Wagner: The Ring of the Nibelung in which he used the mythical gods of the people of North Europe. A ring made from the gold from the Rhine River would give the owner all the power and wealth you'd want with only one condition: you give up loving and being loved. The water spirits were given the task to guard the gold; no one would be interested, they thought, and the gold was stolen.  

Her conclusion is the same as what Jesus said in Luke 16:13. "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other or be attentive to the one and despise the other."