The Economy, Anxiety, and the Eucharist

As the market continued to crash last week, an important thought continued to come to me. That I have to look for all the good in this crises, and what it can lead to for me personally and more importantly what it can bring to the whole culture. I am using this post to deal with the spiritual benefits of a financial crises, not the material benefits. (Even though the material benefits can be big in down market, the most wealth in real estate was created in the great depression.). But this article I want to deal with three main spiritual blessings in a financial crises, simplifying our culture, simplifying our lives, and deepening our trust and confidence in God and not ourselves.

For the past two weeks you can almost feel the simplifying of our culture in the air, and even though its effecting me personally it actuals feels good. The Wall Street Journal ran a story last week, entitled, "The Death of Bling", about how living high in America is gone at least in the short term, because there is no one this crisis doesn't effect. This leads to the "Snow-Storm effect", we are all in this together, and as a culture we need to trust in the ingrained goodness of those around us to help build each other up, and get the financial systems humming again. ( As I write this on Monday Morning, thankfully the markets are trending upward.)

Simplifying ourselves might be the greatest spiritual blessing to come of this whole mess. This economic crises was clearly caused by sin, greed and dishonesty in the housing market. But even in sin, God brings great good out of it. When we simplify our lives, we grow in freedom, the less we are attached to, the less we are cluttered, the more God can fill us, and the more we can listen to Him. I read a study that teenagers with cell phones, are disproportionately more likely to engage in all types of sin that will wound them in the future. Over this weekend, you could almost hear families sitting around the kitchen table, telling young Johnny and young Suzie that mom and dad can no longer afford their cell phone, that mom and dad can no longer afford their car, on and on. As we cut back on things we really don't need, we can be free to grow in happiness, and appreciate what we have! Truth be told, it gives us freedom to love what's free in Life (love, nature, friendships, exercise.) All clutter does is mess with our ability to enjoy these things at a deeper level.

"Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you even at my mother's breast. From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God." Ps. 22:9-10. No matter our circumstances, this is true for all of us, God is our loving Father. During economic downturns, this becomes heightened, and we become happier people! We can no longer rely on our own strength, we need to turn and rely on God. This brings me to my final point on the Eucharist. what a gift it is that we can walk into any Catholic Church in the world, and find Jesus alone waiting for us. Waiting to pour His Love,and His Wisdom into our hearts. So many times, I have fled to the Tabernacle, with questions and unease, and so many times I have left with renewed strength and the wisdom I need for the moment.