Memorial of Saint Leo the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church

Lectionary: 490

For even when I was at Thessalonica

you sent me something for my needs,

not only once but more than once.

It is not that I am eager for the gift;

rather, I am eager for the profit that accrues to your account.

I have received full payment and I abound.

I am very well supplied because of what I received from you

through Epaphroditus....

Both readings today refer to money, that institution that, despite the sciences that purport to study and understand it, remains as mysterious and unmanageable as the human being. It's fun to watch economists harumphing in various newspapers and online mags about what the economy might do. They think there are mechanisms and principles that govern its operations, as if the interactions of several billion human beings were a machine with cogs, belts and drive shafts.

Saint Paul knew about money. He knew he could rely on the Gospel he preached and the people who heard his message and the Spirit who gathered them. They would provide for him. With that faith he had no reason to worry.

Indeed we are saved by faith. Saint Paul lived by that principle, formulated it, and anchored it in the heart of our religion. A lot of people declare they are saved by faith and yet they suffer continuous anxiety over money. They wish they owned more money as if money can be owned by one person or one group of people. But money is only worth what people think it's worth, and that fluctuates continually. It's easier to predict the dynamics of a hurricane than to say what money is worth. Both concern fluid but money is an imaginary fluid; it exists because we agree that it exists. It disappears instantly when that agreement vanishes, as did Confederate currency after the Civil War.

Like many saints and prophets since his time, Saint Paul moved freely throughout the Roman Empire although he had no financial wealth.

I knew a fellow in Australia who was severely afflicted with mental illness. (Although his affliction was more bothersome to others than it was to him.) He told me once he was going to Europe. I knew he had no job and no resources. I asked another fellow, "How can he do that?"

"He can do it because he doesn't know it can't be done." the fellow replied.

I don't know that my friend ever made it to Europe but Saint Paul traveled with that same blithe confidence. When the Holy Spirit said, "Go to Rome!" or "Go to Jerusalem!" he went. Had he traveled like a tourist, for his own entertainment it might not have happened. But his life was never about himself.

As Christians our concern is obedience to the Lord. Whether we work or play, eat or sleep, we let the Lord of Providence provide for us, and his plans do not fail.