Your Money and The Seven Deadly Sins

The seven deadly sins are: pride, greed, envy, wrath, lust, gluttony, and sloth (The Catechism of the Catholic Church #1866). These are known as the “capital” sins, because they can be the open doorway that leads us into other sins. While committing the seven deadly sins can lead to severe punishment in the afterlife, these seven deadly sins can also put you in “hell on earth” when they lead to excessive spending and overwhelming debt due to financial mismanagement.
 
Greed, envy, and gluttony are probably the easiest sins to connect to money management. Greed is a selfish and excessive desire for more of something than is needed.  It rears its ugly head when we always want more even though we already have enough. Greed also appears when we hoard money for our own selfish purposes. Envy walks hand in hand with greed, as a painful or resentful desire to have our neighbor’s possessions. Gluttony makes us indulge excessively in the things we want but don’t need rather than spending wisely for the things we do need.
 
Pride, wrath, lust and sloth also have their own financial implications.
 
Financial pride is feeling that our wealth and possessions make us better than others. Since we have so much more than others, why should we manage our finances faithfully, pay off debt, be generous, or plan for emergencies?
 
Wrath rears its ugly head when we blame others for our own mistakes. If only our job paid more, we would be able to manage our finances better. We blame the lender for getting us into loans we can’t afford to pay back. And we can be angry with our self or our spouse about the burden of debt that we created.
 
Lust is a very deep intense physical craving. While often associated with sex, we can lust after material possessions, spend money we don't have and end up driving ourselves deeper and deeper into debt to fulfill our desires.
 
As for financial sloth, why should we plan and organize our spending today when we can do it tomorrow? It’s much easier to ignore that massive credit card bill than it is to face the facts and conquer debt. And maybe we’ll get around to donating more money to worthwhile causes sometime in the future.
 
These seven deadly financial sins are all too easy to commit based on the American consumer mindset. Each day, advertisers influence us to these excesses, leading us down a fiery path straight to overwhelming debt, our own hell on earth.
 
To escape from these sins, pray for the grace to live the virtues which oppose the seven deadly sins:
·      Humility not pride
·      Generosity not greed
·      Goodwill not envy
·      Patience not wrath
·      Contentment not lust
·      Moderation not gluttony
·      Diligence not sloth
 
Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your life be free from love of money but be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never forsake you or abandon you.’”