Overcoming Avarice

Painting: Charity by William-Adolphe Bouguereau Date: c.1878

Big names aren’t the only ones who can be tempted by greed. 

As business owners, founders, and executives, one big temptation is avarice, perhaps better known as greed. While the word “avarice” usually applies to an exorbitant desire for wealth in our modern language, the Middle English meaning also referred to a disordered want for glory or power.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church illustrates that a morally upright attitude toward economic matters consists partially of “the practice of the virtue of temperance, so as to moderate attachment to this world’s goods (#2407).”  

So how do we moderate our desires for material goods? By praying for temperance and practicing charity through almsgiving. 

Consider praying this prayer written by the SENT Team throughout Advent. 

Lord, if it is not Your will for me to amass wealth, then I don’t want it. If it is not Your will for me to become reputable and well-known for my successes, then I don’t want to. If it is not Your will for me to gain power, then I don’t want it. If it is part of Your will to allow these things so that I may fulfill my purpose, grant me the grace to never stray from You by putting these things before You or Your will for my life. Amen. 

As the Advent season progresses, consider how you can implement the practice of almsgiving into your preparation for the Christmas season and how you can do this with a full heart in the New Year.