Day 10 - Miserliness
Begin with prayer -
Meditation -
At the most basic level, miserliness is an attachment to wealth, hoarding what we have. When thinking of miserliness, perhaps we think of Ebenezer Scrooge. The character from Dickens' A Christmas Carol is certainly a memorable one, refusing to think of anyone or anything besides his accumulated wealth, which he doesn't even use for himself. Yet, miserliness isn't necessarily so dramatic. From a young age we believe that what we have is ours, because we worked for it, or because we earned it, because we deserve it. Should we not be able to keep what we have, and isn't it just that we do so?
In response, Saint Basil the Great rightly asks, "Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring into this life? From where did you receive it?" We must remember that everything we have is from God, and like any good parent, He wants us to share what we are given with others. This directive extends beyond mere material wealth as well, to our time, our energy, our relationships. Any attachment to excess, and any dismissal of the needs of others to keep what is "ours" is miserliness.
Read the following from Saint Basil the Great and think of how you may be attached to miserliness. How can you put into practice the opposing virtue of generosity through the gift of your wealth, whether that is time, energy, or material things?
Is God unjust, dividing unequally the goods of this life? Why are you
rich, while the other is poor? Isn’t it, if for no other reason, so that
you can gain a reward for your kindness and faithful stewardship, and
for him to be honored with the great virtue of patience? But you, having
gathered everything inside the empty bosom of avarice, do you think
that you wrong no one, while you rob so many people?
He who strips a man of his clothes is to be called a thief. Is not he
who, when he is able, fails to clothe the naked, worthy of no other
title? The bread which you do not use is the bread of the hungry; the
garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of him who is naked; the
shoes that you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot;
the money that you keep locked away is the money of the poor; the acts
of charity that you do not perform are so many injustices that you
commit.
- St. Basil the Great, Church father (329—379)
Gratitude -