Jesus never said it was bad to be rich.
He did say it was bad not to share your riches.
In fact being rich is GOOD. The more you have, the more you can share.
Some years ago I celebrated the wedding of an American billionaire in Adare Manor in County Limerick.
He hired a Jumbo jet from Aeroflot to fly his guests from Boston to Ireland.
He put them all up in 5 * Adare Manor for 5 days, full board.
He installed a temporary roof and floor in a ancient church in the hotel grounds for his ceremony.
He hired an orchestra from Limerick to play at his wedding.
There were several days of banqueting at the Manor to celebrate the wedding.
Guests at the wedding ceremony were dressed in formal suits and evening gowns carrying white parasols.
The bride and groom arrived on horseback.
The cost of the wedding was ginormous, I mean really ginormous.
The wine at the top table for the wedding meal was Chateau Petrus from Pomerol. Believe me, you dont even want to price it.
I was wondering about the whole occasion and the expense of it.
The evening of the wedding I was in the bar and was talking to the best man.
He told me three things that made everything ok.
1. The groom was of Irish / Italian descent, was born into a very poor family and started working as a tea boy at the age of 13 on a Boston building site and built himself up from absolutely nothing.
2. He had many thousands of employees and paid them the best rates in the industry.
3. Every year, anonymously, he builds 50 houses in the USA and presents 25 poor black families and 25 poor white families with the deeds and the keys.
As I say, it’s not wrong to be rich.
It’s only wrong to be rich and not share.
If a man is sharing I dont care what expensive tastes he has.
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 