As many of us are sailing
through the twilight of our years, we find ourselves inundated with supposedly
sagacious advices on how to spend those waning years. All of these will usually boil down to one
catch-all advice that we should all spend our resources for our own enjoyment,
and not to mind the other cares of the world.
And that this helps guarantee a long and happy life. We earned it and so we deserve to spend it.
And this conclusion is
reached as culled from many subjects asked about this issue
Before anything, please give a
listen to these venerable quotes:
“Whatsoever I can desire or
imagine for my comfort, I look not for in this life, but hereafter.”
“Thou canst not be fully
satisfied with any temporal good, because thou wast not created for the
enjoyment of such things.”
If these quotes taken from
the book, Imitation of Christ, by Thomas a’ Kempis, inform the practice of our
faith, specifically with regard to the real and noble meanings of our lives,
then we may have issues with some of the advices articulated.
Money and the pleasure it
brings definitely are temporal goods, which are only ennobled if viewed and used
in rightful ways defined by our faith.
We accept that whatever fleeting pleasures will ensue from their uses
will not really translate to real comfort in our lives. But if handled properly
and for altruistic purposes these will redound to the lasting benefits of the
giver.
Spending money on oneself by
and large redounds to the benefit of the user only, and thus being
self-centered does not promote grace and charity. In many instances, such self-serving acts
bring instead deleterious consequences.
Indulging in too much rich food because one can afford it is definitely
one such example, because it could spell badly for our health.
Money set aside or used to
provide better opportunities to the next generations, especially if privation
had characterized previous generations, definitely is a more commendable
resolve. Fulfilling the admonition that
we should leave this earth in a better place than when we entered it. Even if only for the next generation that we
had helped bring into this world, and thus, over which we have moral
responsibility.
With this noteworthy example,
it is hoped that that generation will do the same thing, multiplying the available
opportunities for upcoming generations to live better and more prosperous
lives. Rather than starting back to
square one minus the critical resources necessary to lead better
lives.
For that definitely is the
nobler purpose of life, and the equally praiseworthy end of our use of temporal
goods. Not to satisfy ourselves, but the
people who we are responsible for having brought them into this world.
Again we are reminded by a’
Kempis who postulated metaphorically that when we travel abroad, we return
finding ourselves less than the man we were.
To emphasize, that when we occupy ourselves with the world and its
allures, we return to our solitude, finding ourselves less the kind of person
that we had wanted to be. The many
temptations of the world assailing and getting the better of our resolute
promises to become better persons.
Graphic Credit: http://www.mindyfried.com/category/early-education-and-care/
