Be on your guard against avarice

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

“Watch and be on your guard against avarice”, says the Lord.

What is avarice? Avarice, or greed, is the insatiable desire for material gain. Its most obvious expression is found in the pursuit of money and material possessions. However, it can also include pursuit of power or status.

A most telling image of avarice is found in the character of Gollum in Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings”. He is the most pitiable of figures.

He was content to live in a damp, dark place with practically no possessions. He was content to live off whatever meagre or disgusting food he could find or kill. He was content most of all to be alone, cut off from all companionship, spending his days talking to himself, slowly but surely becoming more and more distorted from his former self. He was content with all that misery because he was a miser. As long as he had that ring, his precious, he was content to be miserable.

He is consumed with his desperate need to posses the Ring. In actual fact it is not so much he will possess the Ring but rather he, his whole life, is possessed by the Ring. The Ring controls him. This is the nature of avarice. Possessions end up possessing the person driven to have them.

The Lord’s warning is something to be taken seriously. Another word for avarice is covetousness. We note that to covert what is not our own is the theme of the final two of the ten commandments.

To possess things is not wrong in itself. We have been given the goods of the earth to provide for our needs. We have a right to own what we need for the necessities of life. The Church, for example, in criticising radical socialism recognises the right to own private property.

However, what is important is to be aware that our possessions are to serve us and our needs; they are a means to an end, not an end in themselves. When we confuse the means and the end, when we desire possessions for their own sake or for the delight of possessing itself, then we can fall into the vice of avarice.

The rich man in our Lord’s parable given to us the Gospel today does precisely this. Having plenty he now orients his life around his possessions. His own words reveal his state of mind and heart when he says, “And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’” It is interesting that the Lord uses the word ‘soul’. In actual fact this decision to just enjoy life is precisely bringing about the death of his soul.

Avarice is primarily a disposition of the heart. So, as in Gollum’s case, one does not need many possessions in order to be greedy. Like all the vices, it knows no socio-economic boundaries. One can have very little and still be possessed by this inordinate desire.

Avarice, however, does not remain at the interior level. It looks outward, towards things. Avarice produces in the mind the notion that material possessions can bring about personal fulfillment. A person consumed with avarice will find that what they have is never enough. We see this in the wealthy man in the parable. The man, wealthy though he is, wanted more and more. He would build bigger and bigger barns.

Avarice corrupts the person so that they become completely self-centred. Owning and possessing becomes central to a person’s thinking and planning. The person driven by avarice views reality in terms of having and possessing. Such a person measures him or herself in terms of what he or she possesses.

This very subtle vice also colors the way a person treats others. Instead of loving persons and using things, we love things and use persons. This can lead to becoming possessive of others.

Living as we do in a consumerist society, subject as we are to constant advertising, a testing of our attitude towards the possession of things is required of all of us.

The antidote to avarice is the desire to live a simple life and to foster a spirit of generosity.

We can ask ourselves the question: do I really need this thing? Will buying this thing or having this experience really make me happy?

We can ask ourselves another question: how generous am I with my possessions? Can I give more from what I have?

Gollum did not realise how miserable his life had become because of his total preoccupation with possessing the Ring. Avarice is subtle. Today the Lord gives us a warning: “Watch and be on your guard against avarice”.

Archbishop Julian Porteous

Sunday, 3 August 2025