Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Home and Religion
If All Were Rich, if None Were Rich

If All Were Rich, if None Were Rich

Last updated on: March 13, 2023 at 4:23 pm by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

If All Were Rich, if None Were Rich 2023-03-13T16:23:48-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

rolled up bills in different denominations

image via pixabay

Things are progressing at somewhat less than a snail’s pace.

Uncle Junkyard says he’ll be able to put brakes in my car “hopefully this weekend.” He’ll take a look at what’s wrong with the wiring then. If it’s the wiring harness, he’ll start digging out whatever needs to be dug out to replace it while I try to figure out how to buy a thousand dollar car part. If, as I hope, it’s something simpler, he might be able to fix it on the spot. I am thankful even as I bite back tears. I know full well I’d have no chance of a working car without him.

I need to go for a drive.

My mental health requires drives. I had been without a car for a decade, and had been used to it, and then I got accustomed to a car and all the things a car gets you: trips into Pittsburgh to look at art. Trips to the grocery store without worrying about missing the bus home. Trips to Columbus to see dear friends when I need a weekend out of Dodge. Trips to Sheetz to sit in the car and eat a bunless made-to-order burger and pretend it’s a lavish treat at a real restaurant. Now I don’t have those, I haven’t all winter, and it’s driving me out of my mind.

I wish, once again, that I were rich.

I’ve been so much worse off it’s spoiled to complain right now, but I wish I were rich.

I would like to be the kind of rich person who doesn’t think they’re rich. Not the obscenely wealthy kind, but a person who believes they are middle class when they’re really better off than that. Not a penthouse in the city and a summer estate out of town, but owning my own house on a double lot in a fairly quiet neighborhood with a small mortgage, and having the cash on hand to call a plumber if it leaks. No lavish vacations in Italian wine country, but the occasional weekend in a cabin in the mountains. No fur coats and Gucci bags, but a tasteful capsule wardrobe with organic pima cotton tops that last several years instead of just one. Not caviar and foie gras, which are both disgusting anyway, but being able to go to the grocery store when I feel like it and not count every penny.

Deciding to go out to dinner at the spur of the moment and not regretting it when the water bill came the next day.

Getting my hair done in a salon instead of risking the discount place every several months and hacking it with my own scissors between trips.

Being able to stop the car whenever I see a homeless person, and not only give them a few dollars and a blessing bag but a brand new pair of boots and a gift card to the Speedway.

Being able to help a domestic violence victim by cashing in my points for a hotel, filling her car with gas and giving her a stack of gift cards to buy food on her cross country drive to stay with her family and be safe.

Being able to walk up to whatever landlord is refusing to rent to a poorer friend because her income is too low, and saying “I’m going to write you a check for half of the entire lease right up front, and you’re going to sit down and write her a lease for the other half. She’ll pay you $600 a month for this house, which it was what it was worth ten years ago before the real estate market went to hell anyway, and you’ll still get the same amount of money. Also, you’ll need to bring this furnace up to code before she moves in or my attorney will become her attorney and you won’t like it.”

Walking into a town council meeting in my tasteful organic capsule wardrobe, looking like a million bucks, and using my privilege to bully people into not passing zoning laws that will hurt the poor.

Not waiting for a generous friend of a friend to see if he can fix my car slowly over several weeks. Just taking it to a mechanic. Having the mechanic give me an estimate. Saying “oh no, I’ll have to rent a car for the weekend. We’ll have to take this out of the savings!” and then stoically writing a check from my Fancy Pool of Money instead of my Everyday Pool of Money.

What if the worst thing that could possibly happen to me was that I had to spend some of my savings?

Who wouldn’t want that?

This is the part where I’m supposed to say that we’re all better off not speaking about such things, but being exactly as God wills us to be. But the thing is, I really do think that God would rather everybody be comfortable. Not comfortable in the sense of getting exactly what you like at the expense of somebody else. Not comfortable in the sense of making a spoiled wealthy brat of yourself. Maybe I wouldn’t get my capsule wardrobe. But He would like us to be busy with helping one another, being generous and loving with one another, so that there is no great inequality between one person and another and everyone gets what they need without fear. I think if we had the society God wished we had, nobody would be crushed if their car needed an expensive part. Nobody would go hungry. Nobody would fear not having the income to qualify for the privilege of paying rent. If we were all concerned with one another, nobody would ever have to be concerned.

If we were all busy enriching one another, we’d all be rich, and then nobody would be rich, because being rich is what happens when there is inequality.

Life wouldn’t hurt nearly so much.

I wonder what such a world would really look like.

I’d like to start making it real.

Maybe we can all start today.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, visit our donate page.

Home and Religion

Uncategorized

Previous Post

March 12, 2023

Jacob's Son at Jacob's Well

Next Post

March 14, 2023 A Late Winter

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"Thank you for bringing so much goodness into the lives of so many children.Ran across ..."

alwayspuzzled

The Passion of the Red Oak

"This current administration has had me reflecting on the Nuremberg trials and the like, for ..."

axelbeingcivil

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who denied knowing Jesus three times before the rooster crowed?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Judas Andrew Peter James