Rafael Badziag interviewed 21 billionaires for his book “The Billion Dollar Secret.” In the book he shared the common principles that enable the billionaires to become outrageously successful in business. But the most common question he’d been asked when writing this book was "Are billionaires happy?"
People generally tend to represent one of
the two extreme opinions. The first one is, "Money
will make you happy;" the other is, "Those poor
billionaires, they are so rich but unhappy." What he found in his
research is that money itself doesn't change much someone’s ability to be happy
— it just magnifies their personality. Happy people become happier and unhappy
people become miserable when they get wealthy.[1]
The Prophet Ezekiel is sent to the prince of
Tyre to issue judgement. Riches, wisdom,
and power have made the prince’s heart haughty.
“By your wisdom and your intelligence, you have
made riches for yourself;” (Ez 28:4) “By your great wisdom applied to your trading you have heaped up
your riches; your heart has grown haughty for riches.” (Ex 28:5) The prince even claims to occupy a godly throne, saying
“a god am I!” (Ez 28:2) The fate of Tyre and Israel’s other enemies shows that
oppression and injustice against God’s people will not go unnoticed nor unpunished.
No matter what happens, God is the people’s faithful defender.[2]
Jesus also comments on the difficulty that
many possessions pose for someone entering the kingdom of heaven. The last line
of our Gospel refers to the reversal of eternal life when the “first will be last and the last will be first.” (Mt 19:30) This perspective is so daunting that the “greatly astonished” disciples unanimously exclaim, “Who then can be saved?” (Mt
19:25)
Well according to Badziag’s research, money
alone will not make us happy, and I would amplify his statement by saying, no
amount of riches, wisdom, or power, of itself, will get us saved! It does give us choice and a lot of riches,
wisdom, and power gives us a lot of choice — but not everybody can handle the
choice. Wealth can force us into choosing
to build walls, to choose words that tear a person down, sometimes even to
choose any number of forms of death.
Jesus, instead, invites His disciples to
transform goods and riches into relationships, because people are worth more
than things, they are more valuable than any riches we possess.[3]
This is the promise to the 12 apostles, who have given up
everything and followed Jesus. They will share in Jesus’ authority “judging the 12 tribes of Israel,” is a symbol of the
reversal brought about in the end time.
[1] Business Insider.
“I
spent six years interviewing 21 billionaires. I found that the 1% are happier
than the average person — and it's not just because they're rich.” by Rafael Badziag, August 31, 2019.
[2] Weekday HomilyHelps. Exegesis by Dr. Mary Ann
Getty.
[3] Twitter. Tweet by Pope Francis on August 18, 2020.
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