Does the Virtue of Temperance Require Poverty?

Jesus taught, “Blessed are the poor” and, “It is easier to for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.” These difficult teachings have inspired the Church throughout the centuries to embrace poverty as a virtue. On the other hand, there have been many followers of Christ who were rich and used their money for the Kingdom of God, such as Lydia the purple dye maker in the book of Acts. Other wealthy saints include St. Katharine Drexel, Saint Margaret of Scotland, St. Louis, king of France, Saint Thomas More and St. Elizabeth of Hungary. As we examine the virtue of temperance, I think it’s important to explore the role that money plays in our lives, and what role it should play as we strive for holiness.

The Evangelical Counsel of Poverty

Since Saint Francis, the vow of poverty has been a common element of the “rule” of religious orders. It’s one of three “Evangelical Counsels,” which means “Gospel wisdom,” of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

These evangelical counsels are consistent with the origins of religious orders in the fourth century. After the Edict of Milan in 325 AD ended the persecution fo Christians, some followers of Christ still felt called to follow the way of the martyrs and give their lives to Jesus in a radical way. So they renounced their secular lives, went out into the desert, and dedicated themselves to radical lives of sacrifice and prayer. Thanks to Church leaders like Saint Basil the Great, this desire to love Jesus in extreme ways was given structure and guidance and has become a powerful force of grace in the Church known as the religious life.

The evangelical counsels are likewise considered ways to radically live out the Gospel. It makes sense that those called a vocation to the religious life would embrace them as part of their “rule of life.” But what about the laity? Catholic tradition tells us that since the evangelical counsels come from the teachings of Jesus, all of His disciples, including laypeople, are invited to live them. However, a “counsel” differs from a “precept.” A precept is a requirement of the faith, such as going to Holy Mass and Holy Confession at least once a year. Precepts usually set the minimum requirements for living the faith. A counsel is a recommended but optional course to greater perfection. If the evangelical counsels are not part of a religious vow, they are not required of us. However, they are recommended as a path to holiness.

Furthermore, we have greater freedom to choose how to live the evangelical counsels. In fact, we are called to live them in ways that match our state of life. If you are married with children, it would actually be irresponsible to forsake all private property the way a religious brother or sister is called to. Our vocation calls us to meet the responsibilities of our state of life first. But that doesn’t mean that the counsel of poverty plays no role in our lives as laity whatsoever.

Understanding the Meaning of Money

The first step in living evangelical poverty in a way that is appropriate to the lay life is to understand the role that money plays in our lives. In-and-of itself, money actually has no value whatsoever. It’s actually a symbolic good for the labor, time, and talents that we use to earn it. Money offers us a way to exchange our labor for things that we need and for the labor of others.

By considering money as a representation of our labor, time, and talent, we can discover the role that money should play in our lives by asking how Jesus calls us to use our labor, time, and talents. Above all, Jesus calls us to love God with our whole heart, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He calls us to serve the Kingdom of God by sharing the Gospel, leading others to repentance, and sharing the love of God. God gives us natural and spiritual gifts to help us participate in His mission as priest, prophet, and king. He calls us to use our time, our talent, and our labor for these purposes.

Therefore, money really symbolizes the potential or power to serve the Kingdom of God! That’s one reason we are called to almsgiving. That’s also how saints who had a lot of money became holy. They didn’t see their money as a luxury to be enjoyed. They saw it as the power to do good for others. If we can come to see money in this light, we are on the way to properly applying evangelical poverty to our lives as laity.

Avarice and the Struggle for Generosity

What makes it so difficult for a rich man to enter heaven is human sinfulness, particularly the Capital Sin called Avarice. Avarice is the inordinate desire for material goods. Our imbalanced desires for worldly goods and pleasures can take a number of forms.

• Avarice can be rooted in hedonism, making pleasure the most important thing in our lives. When money becomes a path to pleasure, distraction, or entertainment, our souls are in danger from this sin.
• Avarice can also be rooted in distrust, a crisis of hope. If we don’t trust that God will work out everything for our good, we grasp for ourselves.
• With money comes power, and fallen human beings are always tempted to use power for our own good instead of for the good of others. If money becomes a status symbol or something to exercise influence over others (especially for selfish ends), our souls are in danger from the sin of Avarice.

I encourage you to take a hard, honest look at your attitude toward money. Even if you’re not Mr. Scrooge before his transformation, I would bet that you’ll be able to find elements of these three attitudes hiding in your heart. I do! Identifying the root of our struggle with money can help us develop the virtues we need to embrace the evangelical counsel of poverty to the appropriate degree for our state of life. It’s important to note that money itself is not the problem. Neither is being “wealthy.” The problem is in the love of money-making money more important than God and love of neighbor.

Detachment and the Virtue of Temperance

The key to living out the evangelical counsel of poverty in the lay state of life is to develop the virtue of detachment.

I witnessed the virtue of detachment in some friends who suffered through a house fire. Even though they fully felt the significance of the tragedy – that their lives had been in danger, the loss of items that held sentimental value and family memories, the displacement from their home as they rebuilt, the toil of salvaging what could be saved and dealing with the insurance company – they navigated the ordeal with faith, acceptance, and grace. The loss of the house and possessions didn’t devastate them at all. That shouldn’t surprise me because I have observed these friends constantly devoting their time, talent, and treasure to serving the Kingdom of God. To them, God is most important, followed by family, then the Family of God (the Church), and then friends. The fire didn’t rob them of any of these things. Everything else they could let go of. How devastated would you or I be if we lost everything we owned?

Detachment is a moral virtue that falls under the Cardinal Virtue of Temperance, the virtue exercising self-control over our physical desires so that we are able to use them in a healthy and balanced way that leads to holiness rather than to slavery. Detachment is specifically the virtue of training ourselves (our will) to let go of lesser goods so we can be free to choose the greater goods.

As we grow in detachment, we grow in our ability to see money and material possessions in a different light. We see physical goods as signs of God’s love, to be enjoyed and to be shared, but only as signs – easily sacrificed for the sake of the love that they signify. We grow to see money and material possessions as the power to serve the Kingdom of God. That means providing for the needs of our family (our primary vocation) and also finding ways to provide for those in need and to build up the Kingdom. We will eventually find it easier to follow Jesus’ counsel to give out of our need like the widow putting her mite into the temple treasury, rather than from our excess.

Your Battle Plan to Grow in Virtue

Just to warn you if you haven’t already considered it, the virtue of detachment is not easy. Jesus said that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needs than for a rich man to enter Heaven. His meaning is mainly that rich people cannot reach Heaven on their own power any more than any of us can. But his analogy also speaks to the battle within our hearts to control our avarice, which our Lord just observed in the rich young man who went away sad.

But here are some ways that you can start exercising this virtue.

• Make holiness your main goal no matter what your financial situation is. Holiness is true north for all of us.
• Don’t make getting rich your goal. If you have a well-paying job, consider the burden of responsibility that places on you to use your power for love.
• Have conversations with your family about what they absolutely need to be happy as a family. This is a great way to start understanding how much more you have than you actually need. Rather than feeling guilty about being materially blessed, be grateful to God for blessing your family. But then . . .
• Spend time thinking about how you can use your material wealth (however much that may be) to spread the love and goodness of God and to serve His Kingdom. Put something into practice as soon as possible, even if it’s just finding a worthy cause to donate to.
• Practice self-denial. Like the rich young man confronted by Jesus, most of us are completely unaware of how attached we are to comforts, luxuries, and entertainment until we are forced to go without them for a while.
• Make the conscious, deliberate effort to grow in other virtues. Growing in virtues is like working out. Just the act of working out can warm you up to strengthen the weakest parts of your body. In the same way, the act of growing in virtue can warm you up to grow in the virtues you find most difficult. Are you struggling with detachment? Work on developing prudence first. Make progress, then apply what you learn to grow in temperance in general and detachment in particular.

If you’d like help to develop the virtues that lead to holiness, I invite you to take a look at the opportunity below to let From the Abbey help you! The main goal of From the Abbey is to help Catholic adults develop and strengthen the spiritual habits – like the virtue of Temperance – that will help you build a “lay rule of life” – a path to growing in holiness in the midst of the demands of your everyday life. Learn your faith through online courses and articles. Grow in your faith with the online spirituality programs. Your next step toward holiness could be waiting below!

Brought to you by Jeffrey S. Arrowood at From the Abbey, dedicated to helping you rediscover the JOY of learning and living your faith so you can grow in intimacy with God.