Today I am talking about some very special misers: misers of spirituality. I do it because there are many who are of spiritualities that, logically, are more or less false. There can be no misers of authentic Christian spirituality, since it launches us to share life, word, Word and bread. But let’s get to it.
No one is surprised that we are told about the greedy of wealth, the unjust accumulators of earthly goods that impoverish more than half of humanity, but there may also be those greedy of spiritual goods who want to accumulate them behind the pain of men and without hearing his cry. Greedy and unsupportive spiritualities can be practiced that, even believing that they are Christians, they are light years away from the authentic experience of spirituality that the followers of the Master should have.
There are non-incarnated spiritualities. How many can there be in the world looking for spiritualities that, even believing that they are Christian, walk with their backs to the pain of their neighbor and with earmuffs that make them deaf to the cry of the helpless! These are not embodied spiritualities, they are not rooted in the radical commitment to the suffering neighbor as Jesus taught us, but they are confused or, in their case, they have been wrongly taught believing that the authentic spirituality is the one that is practiced only within the four walls of the church, looking for enjoyments and joys that distance them from their neighbor beaten and thrown by the side of the road.
The greedy of spirituality fall into religious self-consumption, since authentic spirituality does not consist in the search for present joys for pseudo-spiritual self-consumption, nor in other searches for perks of eternal crowns or awards in an afterlife in which we are focused, losing our essence. of Christianity that is also that our spirituality is rooted in the world, among the poor and suffering, among the abandoned, exploited, marginalized and deprived of dignity. It is the commandment to love one’s neighbor in similarity to the love of God that is an essential part of the practice of an authentic Christian spirituality.
There may be misers of unhealthy spirituality who, confused by many religious causes and situations, selfishly focus on types of spirituality with their backs to pain and the cry of the poor. There are no eschatological crowns sought outside of commitment, the search for justice and the practice of mercy above any ritual. Faith is not such, it is not authentic, if it is not acting through love, as the apostle Paul says. Therefore, there is no type of faith or disembodied spirituality of the world, uprooted from the society in which we live and without bearing what we would call the fruits of faith.
How little is taught in the churches on how to live authentic Christian spirituality in an integral way in commitment to the world, to the street, to the neighborhood, being the hands and feet of the Lord in the midst of a world of pain! We must learn to be careful with the experience of our spiritual life, which must discard all selfishness and spiritual greed in order to live it in commitment to the world and to man who has been beaten and unfairly treated, reflecting and working on the concept of closeness that Jesus has left us. .
Therefore, no matter how greedy we are of spirituality, unsupportive joys and endless blessings, if we do it in a non-committal way towards our neighbor who needs our service, our voice and our denunciation in the world, at the same time that of our practice of mercy. This is above any ritual: “I want mercy and not sacrifice.” So let us not become greedy for unsupportive, inhumane spiritualities, of self-enjoyment and false joys, because what is practiced as a ritual with one’s back to the pain of men is not an authentic spirituality, it is worthless.
We must reject being greedy for both material goods and spiritual goods. Remember the rich young man who could not accept following Jesus, because, deep down, what he wanted was to have everything on earth and everything in heaven, but in Christian spirituality, more than having, being should dominate: being the hands, feet and voice of the Lord in the midst of a world of pain.