What is the measure of true wealth? This is a fantastic question for us to reflect upon deeply. The way the world measures wealth and the way God sees wealth are completely different. The two are radically opposed. In the world, wealth, as we know, is measured in things. The more we have, the more we are. Our value is measured in who has the bigger house, the newer truck, the biggest gold chain, the name-brand purse, the list can go on and on. We all know this vision of life well. We are surrounded by it; it's in the very air we breathe. We can even feel the jealousy that erupts in our heart when we see someone else that seemingly has something “better” than us. They have the newer of whatever that thing is. They have the perfect family that I do not. They have the friends and the attention that I long for. To fall in love with this worldly vision of wealth turns us into slaves of other people’s opinions. It keeps us chained to praise. 

On the other hand, there’s another vision of life that we can choose. We do not have to keep walking down the worldly path of wealth that keeps us unhappy and wanting. Rather, there’s the higher path of which St. Paul points too in the Second Reading for this Sunday Mass. Listen again in its refreshing beauty: “My beloved brothers and sisters. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who love him?” (Cf. James 1:4-5). The only opinion that ultimately matters in life is how God sees us. He does not look upon our material wealth as the measure of our value. Rather, he looks at something far deeper. He looks at our love for Him. To have the love of God is to be rich in all the ways that last. 

Everything in this world is fading. Our houses will rot away. Our cars will break down.  The beauty of our bodies will be a distant memory. The people that we love the most will die. The one thing that lasts is our relationship with God. Work everyday to build that relationship with him. You will find true wealth: 

“Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (Cf. 1 Corinthians 13:8-13)