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WHAT ST. PAUL TAUGHT ABOUT WEALTHToday in the Scripture readings for Daily Mass, chapter 6 in St. Paul’s first epistle to St. Timothy was (almost) concluded, the chapter having been piecemealed over several days. One thing which continues to greatly annoy me is the USCCB practice of including only selected parts of Scripture readings instead of the entire pertinent passage in context. Thus, important things are often not covered. Too many times we Catholics accuse of Protestant brothers and sisters of “cherry-picking” verses of Sacred Scripture, but equally so many times our Scripture selections for Holy Mass are cherry picked to either support a liberal leftist environmentalist social justice agenda or to hide a call to repentance and personal accountability. Indeed, last Sunday I had the opportunity to hear a sermon given by a Protestant friend – Erce Cobile – on Romans chapter 8. He spoke on the entire chapter, having forewarned his audience prior to giving his message that should arrive already having read and studied the chapter (Catholics should do the same before Holy Mass). Now yes, being Catholic, I do have some theological differences of opinion with certain items; but that is NOT the point. What is the point is that Erce did NOT cherry pick a verse here and a passage there to support a preconceived agenda. Instead, he spoke on the entire chapter in context, and that is something often lacking in the homilies given by too many Catholic priests and in the sermons given by most Protestant preachers. Father Kirby, the priest at Our Lady of Grace here in Lancaster, SC, does much the same: he takes Scripture in the context in which it is written, showing how the readings for Holy Mass from Old and New Testaments flow one into the other. I had written about this the other day when explaining that 5-to-7-minute homilies purveying a catch phrase or some social media meme stupidifies the congregation into imbecility, hence the vast ignorance of too many among the laity. Fortunately, neither Erce nor Father Kirby do that. But even before I begin, I digress from what I wanted to write about. Therefore, let us proceed without further delay.In 1st Timothy 6:1-2, St. Paul tells slaves to obey and serve their masters, NOT using the Faith as a pretext for social justice. In fact, he tells them that in the case of the master who is a believer, they must diligently perform their duties even more. From verses 3 to 8 it becomes obvious that those who think otherwise are beholden to the false gospel of envy. This is readily apparent in verse 9 that says, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation…” Today’s liberal leftist advocates of social justice who whip up the poor and destitute into paroxysms of covetousness spread the evil contamination of sin, for the 9th and 10th Commandments state, “Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s’” (Deuteronomy 5:21). Thus, verse 10 states, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” Note that that verse occurs AFTER admonishing slaves to obey their masters and BEFORE giving instructions to the rich in verses 17 through 19. To put this into a modern perspective, it is the socialists like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Bernie Sanders who are driven by their love for money, NOT the honest entrepreneur who is a believer and who as an employer oversees a staff of employees providing products and services to the public at a profit that is recycled to build up the business in providing societal economic health.St. Paul then instructs St. Timothy in verses 11 through 16 to aim at righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness, fighting the good fight. He explains these things prior to giving instructions about the rich in verses 17 to 19. Nowhere does St. Paul advocate for redistribution of wealth from rich to poor by "almighty" Caesar, but that the rich do good and be generous from within their own hearts. Now yes, I dislike the translation of the RSVCE for verse 18 which states, “They [the rich] are to do good, to be rich in good deeds, liberal and generous.” That is NOT what the Vulgata Latina or the ancient Koine Greek say:LATIN: Bene agere, divites fieri in operibus bonis, facile tribuere, communicare.GREEK: ἀγαθοεργεῖν, πλουτεῖν ἐν ἔργοις καλοῖς, εὐμεταδότους εἶναι, κοινωνικούς,LITERAL ENGLISH: To do well, to become rich [wealthy] in all good things, to easily grant [allot, bestow], to share [divide, join with].The words liberalis, benignus, beneficus, munificus and largicus are NOT used. This is an important point because liberal leftists beholden to the false gospel of social justice, the common good and peace at any price will point to the use of the English word liberal in verse 18 to justify their false assertion that Christians must be liberal. They would deliberately misinterpret the word to denote an untrue and inapplicable political perspective that certainly did NOT exist in the 1st century of the Roman Empire when this epistle was written.Finally in verses 20 and 21, St. Paul concludes by saying, “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith.” All of today’s present talk in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant circles about social justice, the common good and peace at any price is godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge. And because too many in the clergy support and advocate such distortions of the Faith as the Gospel message, making material what is spiritual, a great many souls are lost to the enemy (known as Satan or the Devil) because of greed for money and envy of the rich. That is the precise point of chapter 6. It is obvious as daylight, and it is why the cherry picking of the Scripture readings for the Novus Ordo Mass conceal by omission this important lesson: the Bishops in the USCCB are beholden to the godless Democrat Party, and the liberal leftist homoerotic clerics in the Vatican want nothing but the continuance of their power and perversions. Such heresies have occurred before in the 2000 year life of the Church, but in the end, God will be victorious.