Question II: Concerning Avarice

I. Avarice is the inordinate appetite for riches, or immoderate love of having. It is called:

1. an appetite for riches, under the name of which come not only monies but all exterior goods, insofar as they are useful to man and their price is measured and estimated by money: "all exterior things which come into the use of human life are understood under the name of money insofar as they have the account of a useful good";¹

¹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 118, a. 2 ad 1.

2. inordinate, that is, immoderate and excessive. For riches are a useful good for the sustaining of life according to someone's condition. But the useful is good insofar as it is commensurated to the end, and the excess of this measure is evil. Whence the appetite for riches insofar as they are necessary or useful for life is good, but to desire them beyond this is evil.

"In all things which are for an end, the good consists in a certain measure; for those things which are for an end must be commensurated to the end, as medicine is commensurated to health... But exterior goods have the account of useful things for an end. Whence it is necessary that man's good concerning them consist in a certain measure, namely while man seeks to have exterior riches according to some measure, insofar as they are necessary for his life according to his condition. And therefore sin consists in the excess of this measure, namely when someone wishes to acquire or retain them above the due mode, which pertains to the account of avarice, which is defined as immoderate love of having. Whence it is clear that avarice is a sin."²

² St. Thomas, II-II, q. 118, a. 1.

II. The gravity and species of avarice. - The love or appetite for riches can be immoderate in two ways:

a) in one way, in receiving and retaining riches, insofar, namely, as man acquires or preserves them more than is due. Thus it is directly a sin against the neighbor and is opposed to justice, and it is mortal from its genus, while nevertheless admitting lightness of matter;

b) in another way, in interior affection, if someone loves riches too much, desires them, or is delighted in them, even if he does not wish to snatch away the goods of others. Thus it is a sin of man in himself, and is opposed to liberality, and according to itself is venial, unless on account of affection for riches someone does not fear to commit some mortal sin, or establishes his last end in riches.³

³ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 118, a. 1 ad 2; a. 3 and 5; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 13, a. 1 and 2.

From these things it is clear that avarice, or immoderate love of having, is not only the love of retaining riches, but of desiring them in any inordinate way whatsoever.

III. The general influence of avarice upon other sins. - The Apostle says in 1 Tim. 6:10: Cupidity is the root of all evils; this is to be understood of avarice properly so called.⁴ The reason is that through riches man acquires the faculty and facility of perpetrating any sin whatsoever, and the occasion of desiring any sin whatsoever, because man can be assisted by money in order to have any temporal goods whatsoever, according to Ecclesiastes 10:19: All things obey money. Whence just as a root furnishes nourishment to a tree, so money nourishes the desire of every sin. And therefore avarice is the root of all sins, not indeed in this sense, that every sin viewed individually arises from it, but because every genus of sin can arise from it and more frequently does arise from it.⁵

⁴ Several indeed have understood this of avarice improperly so called, namely a) of inordinate conversion or tendency toward any temporal good whatsoever, which is found in every sin. This general cupidity is called the cause of sins on the part of conversion toward created good, from which sin is nourished and fostered, whence it is called the root. Also b) of the inclination of fallen nature toward inordinately desiring temporal goods, from which all sins come. These things are true, but they do not hand down the sense of Scripture, which manifestly speaks of avarice properly so called, which is a special sin, namely the inordinate appetite for riches. I-II, q. 84, a. 1.

⁵ St. Thomas, I-II, q. 84, a. 1.

Therefore avarice properly so called, like pride properly so called, is the cause of all sins, not indeed on the part of aversion, but each on the part of the act or of conversion toward a created good which is in sin. Nevertheless they differ: 1. in the account of causality, for pride is the final cause of all, while avarice is a disposing cause toward all, insofar as it procures the means of acquiring all things which the other vices desire; whence 2. each is first in a different order: pride in the order of intention, in which the end is the principle that precedes the means; avarice in the order of execution, in which, on the contrary, the means precede the end, which is their term: "It must be considered that in voluntary acts a twofold order is found, namely, of intention and of execution. In the first order (pride) has the character of principle and of end. . . . But on the part of execution, that is first which furnishes the opportunity of fulfilling all the desires of sin, which has the character of a root, namely riches. And therefore on this side avarice is said to be the root of all evils."⁶

⁶ Ibid., a. 2.

IV. Avarice is a capital sin. - A capital vice is that from which other vices arise according to the character of an end, that is, because it has a supremely desirable end: whence, to obtain it, a man does many other things, even evil ones. But the supremely desirable end is happiness, "and therefore the more anything participates in the conditions of happiness, the more desirable it is." Now one of the conditions of happiness is that it be self-sufficient, a condition which is verified in riches: for money, which all things obey, most of all gives a man what suffices for himself. Therefore avarice is a capital vice. - Money, namely, although by its nature it is a useful good, and hence is not an end but a means to the end, nevertheless because of its universality, inasmuch as it is useful for acquiring all external goods, virtually contains all things, and so has a certain likeness to happiness, and is exceedingly desirable.⁷

⁷ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 118, a. 7; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 13, a. 3.

Nor does this stand in the way: that pride is not numbered among the capital vices because it is itself the cause of all; therefore, by parity, avarice too is not to be placed among the capital vices, since it is the root of all sins. - For pride is the cause of all sins under the character of an end, and therefore it is not a capital vice, which is the final cause of some sins only; avarice, however, is not the root of all sins inasmuch as it is their end, but inasmuch as it disposes toward all and furnishes the faculty and the means of desiring and perpetrating all, and under this respect it is not a capital vice; but because it is besides the final cause of some, it is rightly numbered among the capital vices.⁸

⁸ St. Thomas, I-II, q. 84, a. 4, ad 4.

V. Avarice has seven daughters. - From avarice, as from a final cause, seven vices more frequently arise, according to Gregory, Morals, book 31, c. 45 (or 17), which are called its daughters. Inasmuch as it is immoderate in retaining, there arises: 1. hardness of heart, or inhumanity against mercy toward one's neighbor; - inasmuch as it is immoderate in taking, there arises 2. in the affection: restlessness, or superfluous solicitude about goods to be acquired; in effect: 3. violence, when someone uses force to acquire goods; 4. deceit and 5. perjury, when he uses guile in words, whether simple words or words confirmed by oath; 6. fraud, when he uses guile in deed as to things; and 7. treachery, when he uses guile as to persons, as is clear concerning Judas, who from avarice betrayed Christ.⁹

⁹ St. Thomas, II-II, q. 118, a. 8; Quaestiones disputatae de Malo, 13, a. 3.

VI. Remedies against avarice. - Besides prayer, there is customarily proposed a twofold kind of remedy: one internal, in the mind; another external, in work.

A. In the mind: consideration both a) of the loftiness of heavenly things and the vanity of earthly things; and b) of the example of Christ the Lord, who, though He was rich, became needy, that He might show us that the contempt of riches is the more certain way of salvation; and c) of the baseness, unhappiness, and dangers of avarice; and d) of death, which will despoil us of all earthly things.

In particular, think:

1. how inconstant are the riches of this world, which pass away "as a shadow" (Wis. 5:9), and like things possessed in sleep, after which, when it has passed, "all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands" (Ps. 75:6);

2. whither riches acquired with such solicitude will go: strangers will snatch away my labors, my heirs and those born of them will squander them. God warns the avaricious man: "Thou fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and whose shall those things be which thou hast prepared? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God" (Luke 12:20-21);

3. how vile are the goods of this world: they are extrinsic, they make the possessor neither better nor blessed, but for the most part restless, forgetful of heaven, proud, luxurious, a contemner of divine things, hard also toward the miserable, as Sirach 10:9-10 testifies: "There is nothing more wicked than the avaricious man... Nothing is more wicked than to love money; for such a one setteth even his own soul to sale."

B. In work: a) largess of alms, b) visitation of the miserable, and c) conformity to the divine will in the loss of goods: namely, let the poor love poverty; let the rich be drawn back from riches by the good use of them.

In particular, call to mind the sayings of Scripture:

1. "He that giveth to the poor shall not want; he that despiseth him that asketh shall suffer want" (Prov. 28:27).

2. "He lendeth to the Lord who hath mercy on the poor" (Prov. 19:17); "As long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me" (Matt. 25:40); "And do not forget beneficence and communication, for by such sacrifices God is merited" (Heb. 13:16).

3. "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." He is truly rich who possesses God; poor is he who lacks God.

4. "Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth,... but lay up to yourselves treasures in heaven... Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His justice, and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6:19-20, 33; printed citation: Mt. VI, 19, 20, 23). "For what doth it profit a man, if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?" (Matt. 16:26).