It has been a while since we've talked about the 7 deadly sins. I know that everyone has been feverishly anticipating the return of these talks, so we continue today with Greed, the 3 ^rd of the deadly sins we have talked about. The poet Dante, places greed as a slightly worse sin than Lust and Gluttony. So, for him, the poor souls in purgatory must be purified of this sin as they continue to climb the mountain towards heavenly rest.

Greed is also called avarice, and sometimes covetousness. Greed is a desire that is disordered, or inordinate. There is nothing wrong with having desires, and nothing wrong with obtaining objects we desire. Treat yourself to the new television or item of clothing or new couch; this isn?t the problem. To say that greed is a deadly sin is not to say that all Christians must be St. Francis of Assisi and give away the shirt off your back.

Maybe you are called to a life of poverty, probably not, and of course it is always good to consider ways in which we can be generous and open-handed with our possessions, but let's not get into so-called "Catholic guilt." This really ought not exist in the sense people perceive it to; when we talk about sin, it is not to make ourselves feel bad, but so that we can be freed from sin to live a life of freedom, to be freed to be human beings redeemed and loved by God, who have a higher purpose.

The real problem with greed is not desire for money or other things, but desire for the wrong things in the wrong amount. Greed causes us to lose focus on our higher purpose and chase after things that, ultimately, have very little value. As Dante says of those stuck in the Inferno because of Greed, all of the gold under the moon cannot satisfy. Lets take an example; money. All of us desire money. But why? Do we desire it because it helps keep a modest roof over our head and food in our kitchen? Do we desire it so that we can give some to the church, some to our children to take care of them? If so, this desire is moderate and completely acceptable. We desire money because it helps us to accomplish good things. On the other hand, we might ask ourselves; do I desire more money than I really need? Am I willing to compromise my morals in order to get it? Do I think about money more than anything else? Am I unwilling to give money away to those who need it? If the answer to any of these is yes, then there is an issue with inordinate desire. The money has become too important and greed has set in.

1 Timothy 6 says that, " the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, fly these things: and pursue justice, godliness, faith, charity, patience, mildness."

This makes very clear the danger of greed; it can lead us away from the faith.

In this life, most of us are in a spiritual stage called the purgative. We are still trying to detach ourselves from greed and desire for earthly things so that we can desire God alone. St. Paul gives us good advice for how to work through this stage, fly to these things; the virtues. This is a better way, because these virtues transcend earthly life, to fly to them is to come home to your own immortal soul. Money and cars and houses and clothes and all that stuff fade away; your soul does not. Lets not spend our lives feeding only the desires of the body. Let us also attend to the soul.

In doing so we turn to a higher purpose. This is not a limitation, to reject greed and to moderate our desires. We think of it as limiting because we must tell ourselves "no", we must discipline ourselves. But think about it this way, if we can't say "no" then our desires rule us. They are in charge. Do we want greed to be our master or do we want God to be our master. The discipline is hard, but the choice is easy, for God is a master whose burden is light and his only desire is to give us freedom and make us happy.