The sweet reward of being honest and just

This past October, I had the great pleasure of going on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. While in Jerusalem, I thought of those pivotal moments in the life of Jesus before the events of His crucifixion. For example, once Jesus threw over the tables of the moneychangers at the Temple, saying that they had “made it into a den of thieves.” Many people use this event to fit their own personal agenda or attitudes about money, but let’s look at what was really going on here.
 
In Jesus’ time, people traveled long distances and from many different places carrying various forms of currency to the Temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they needed to buy a lamb or a bird or whatever animal was prescribed by the law in order to offer sacrifice. Therefore, it was not wrong that these animals were for sale near the Temple or that moneychangers were on hand to facilitate these purchases.
 
What was wrong, however, was that the people were being taken advantage of by those moneychangers who were corrupt. They often cheated the people instead of conducting an honest business. Imagine today if your parish church told you that you had to provide the bread for Mass, and then they sold the bread to you outside the church before you came in because they knew that on Sundays all the bread stores near your home were closed. Then consider what it would be like if the church also said it didn’t accept dollars to buy the bread, but rather you had to use Vatican currency, and the exchange rate was up to the person working the table that morning. You would have no choice but to take a loss on the exchange by purchasing the overpriced bread. The profit would then go to pad the pockets of those working at the table.
 
It was not the practice of honest business that Jesus was rejecting that day at the Temple. Rather, it was corruption and unfair practices that take advantage of people. Jesus speaks about money more than just about any other thing in the Gospels. But Jesus speaks of money as both an opportunity for spiritual growth as well as a barrier to spiritual growth when money is used selfishly and without compassion.
 
As vicar for development of the Diocese of Brooklyn — raising millions of dollars annually for Catholic school tuition assistance, care of our senior priests, vocations support, youth ministry, Catholic Charities, and many other worthy causes — I have had the honor of working with financially successful individuals who have worked hard and been honest and now give back. It is the virtues of honesty and justice in business that can aid us in our spiritual growth, and it is the discipline of sacrificial giving that can bring us to our sweet reward in the heavenly kingdom.
 
Nourished by the Eucharist, may we all conduct ourselves in business and in our personal lives with honesty, with justice, and as people of giving.

MONSIGNOR JAMIE GIGANTIELLO is the vicar for development of the Diocese of Brooklyn and host of the NET-TV cooking show Breaking Bread. He also is pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel-Annunciation Parish in Brooklyn, NY.