February 28
You are a borrower
ake light of
the world and of yourself and of all earthly pleasures. Hold your kingdom
as something lent to you, not as if it were your own. For you know well
that life, health, wealth, honor, status, dominion—none of these belongs
to you. If they did, you could own them in your own way. But just when
we want to be healthy we are sick; just when we want to be alive we die;
just when we want to be rich we are poor; just when we want to be in power
we are made servants. And all this because these things are not ours, and
we can keep them only as much and as long as it pleases the One who has
lent them to us. So it is really foolish to hold as if it were our own
what belongs to another: it is, in fact, a thievery worthy of death. This
is why I am asking you to act wisely, as a good steward, holding everything
as lent to you who have been made God's steward.
From John E. Rotelle, O.S.A., Tradition Day by Day: Readings from
Church Writers. Augustinian Press. Villanova, PA, 1994.
HTML text prepared by David P. Steelman
