Wednesday in the Octave of Easter

Lectionary: 263


"Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” He paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them. Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold, but what I do have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazorean, rise and walk.”

Our first reading today, from the Acts of the Apostles, concerns healing, with a passing reference to silver and gold. Because of the novel coronavirus, every nation on earth has been suddenly caught up in a dual crisis of disease and recession. If anyone has considered the global scale of one and not the other -- especially bankers and stock brokers who play the market for personal gain without regard for downstream consequences, this pandemic should serve as a wakeup call. 

We usually think of Jesus as the One who forgives sins. With the advent of scientific approach to medical care, the healing effects of faith and prayer have often been shunted aside. Many hospital patients are more interested in the doctor's visit than the chaplain's; even their own pastor is expected to step aside when the white coat arrives. They forget that the Church has always pleaded before the Mercy Seat of God for our acutely ill and chronically sick loved ones. Christian nations are dotted with shrines to Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and innumerable saints; and pilgrims approach these holy hills, mountains, and wells all year round. Every Catholic and Protestant congregation habitually prays for our sick, while Catholic priests offer the Anointing of the Sick to everyone who asks. 

But even as we pray for healings, we also pray for financial security. For, despite the pretentious claims of scientific economics, the Lord has authority over our finances. The Church has often stressed the ethical issues of financial decisions, especially as the chasm between wealth and poverty grows deeper and wider each day. We dare not pretend to believe that The Economy has a life of its own, apart from moral decisions of business, governments, and individuals. Pope Francis, like many of his predecessors, has warned the world about economic crises long before they were exacerbated beyond all imagination by Covid-19.

I find it helpful to remember there are four kinds of wealth, and money is the least important of them. 

1. A wealthy nation must have deep pockets of social capital. That is, it's people work together and trust one another. They are not split into races, castes, religions, language groups, or classes. 
2. A wealthy nation has deep investments in knowledge. They educate their youth in every branch of knowledge, not just STEM -- science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. They cultivate literature, music and other arts, while they ponder philosophy and theology. 
3. A wealthy nation practices virtue. They respect the dignity of each person, and go to great lengths to protect the sick, children, elderly, and disabled. 
4. The nation that cares about its social-, knowledge-, and virtue-capital will never suffer for cash. 

They might on occasion say with Saint Peter, we "have neither silver nor gold," but they will always find the resources to assist one another -- even during a worldwide pandemic.