Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
Washington, DC

Lectionary: 689

I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike at your head,
while you strike at his heel."

 V isitors to the Chapel at Mount Saint Francis (dedicated in 1925) will see upon entering, two large statues to the left and right of the main altar. They represent Saint Francis of Assisi and the Blessed Mother. This particular image of her is known as the Immaculate Conception. Always, beneath one foot of the Immaculate Conception is a serpent, often with a round fruit in its mouth. The Sinless One is trampling upon every temptation to sin. The image recalls GOD's reassuring word to Eve, "...he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."

Feet of Mary Immaculate

However, not many American visitors, blind as we are to symbolism, notice what Saint Francis is trampling beneath his feet, a bag of coins. Money.

As the European economy slowly climbed out of the "Dark Ages", stronger governments overcame highway brigands and travel became safer for merchants, pilgrims, and tourists. Long dead banks revived and metal coin money reappeared. Almost immediately, hard working travelers like Pietro Bernadone could become fabulously wealthy without owning large tracts of land. He had money. Rather than bartering for goods and services, he bought and sold valuable, imported cloth. 

A "middle class" between royalty and poverty appeared. It would be many centuries before the art of managing the Economy would appear, along with some ability to avoid major depressions and expansions. The middle class will always be threatened with extinction, but new forms of government appeared (i.e democracy) to support it. 

Simultaneously, the Holy Spirit called some to rebel against the greed and ambition of the upwardly mobile middle class. As the warrior class had repented of their violence and entered monasteries, inspired children of the middle class entered the mendicant orders of Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, Augustinians, etc. These were quite spontaneous movements beginning in different nations without coordination until the Church normalized their way of life at the Second Council of Lyon.

Francis's feet with despised coins

One of the most important and common characteristics of mendicants was their disavowal of wealth. Unlike the monasteries which owned enormous tracts of land, the friars and their communities would own nothing. Saint Francis, especially, despised money. And so the statue of Saint Francis in our chapel shows him stepping on a bag of coins as if owning money is like listening to the serpent, sinful. 

The Catholic Church has maintained this suspicion about wealth to this day. Despite the reputed "billions" of the Vatican and the thousands of Catholic dioceses throughout the world, it is not a wealthy enterprise. Many of its greatest material assets are frankly priceless; they cannot be sold. They are kept by the Church and out of the hands of wealthy collectors so that everyone can see, appreciate, and "own" them. 

Saint Paul famously warned his disciples Timothy about the danger of owning money:

If we have food and clothing, we shall be content with that. Those who want to be rich are falling into temptation and into a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evils, and some people in their desire for it have strayed from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

As we walk with Mary, Saint Francis, and innumerable saints and martyrs through the narrow gate on the rocky road of salvation, we must necessarily own property, use money, accrue debts, and earn credit. But we should be shrewd as serpents lest our heads be crushed beneath the feet of those who walk with the saints.