Wealth And Privilege Require Extra Humility

Neither wealth nor privilege gives one the right to be haughty.  In fact, wealth and privilege requires one to go an extra step to serve those who serve, even when genuine kindness is insulted, when innocent actions are prejudged or when good intentions are accused mistakenly, even when the person who is behind the insulting, the prejudging or the accusing is a person of cloth in the service of Christ.

Why should a person so clothed be forgiven for abusing his or her authority?  Because they are also sinners and can therefore be just as imperfect, fallible, envious, vengeful, egoistical and shameless as any one of or the worst of humankind even though they are supposed to be Christ-like and they need to be forgiven.

To be sure, some religious are humble and saintly, caring and loving and as Christ-like as a sinner can hope to be.  They are the truly holy ones and are truly shepherds of Christ.  They take care of themselves and they take care of the flock.

However, it is not them but shepherds that are sheep in wolves' clothing that need to be embraced by those with wealth and privilege.  It does not help these sinful and hypocritical ones when the wealthy and privileged ones (the "haves") drive off, go somewhere else, never to return, to find another religious or religion that suits them.

These sinful religious need to be understood.  They are the ones who need the compassion of those who have the comforts of life, never having to face life's hardships like poverty, the pains of drudgery or hunger.  Why?  Because some of the religious, unlike a handful of the saints who had respectable wealth and privilege like Francis of Assisi, Augustine of Hippo and Charles Borromeo of Milan, are from poor or financially-modest families.  Without neither wealth nor privilege, even if they have become highly educated later in life, some, not all, would have the natural tendency to envy those at the opposite end of the spectrum [1] and abuse the power that come with what they wear.  Those religious who are bitter and envious of the "haves" are without the strength of character to ward off Satan's influences.  Unless they repent, they would eventually succumb under the weight of their sins.

Hopefully that would not happen if the "haves" understand the beginnings of the "have-nots" and support them by forgiving them and giving to them, time and again, so even if these sinful religious remain blinded by Satan to kindness, innocence and goodness, they would at least recognize the persistence of kindness, innocence and goodness given to them.  With persistence and repetition, their hardened hearts would yield and Satan's grip on them should loosen so that they will have the chance to repent and have the love of Christ Whom they serve before it is too late and Satan forever claims their souls.

A word of caution for the "haves":  If the "haves" are blind to poverty and compassion, they will probably be in Hell.

[1] It is normal for those who have grown up with little or nothing to have a compelling desire to amass everything and remain envious when they cannot.  Therefore, it can be argued that the face of Christ is not found among the bitter and envious poor but among those who, for the love of Christ, if they are poor, choose not to be envious of the earthly riches but find fulfillment in Christ, and if they are not poor, choose to be poor, or poor in spirit, or both.  To go a step further, it could be argued that Christ Himself chose to be poor for He came from Heaven with all the riches yet He chose not to be born with such wealth and privileges.