A recent headline on a news webpage refused to go without a commentary: You're dead: where's your 401K? A guide to retirement.
I was thankful for my Catholic upbringing. When I thought of my death my 401k did not come to mind, but rather the state of my soul and the spiritual location of my eternal self which was made for God but which is constantly tempted away from God in this life. That is what I think of when I think of my death. The headline could have read: You're dead: where are you? The headline instead suggested that your eternal worth was somehow linked to your 401k and its location after your death.
Perhaps it goes without saying in my family and among my friends - but in our society it needs repeating: What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? If in fact you are pouring your life into your 401k then that is exactly where your life may be after your death: lost. And being lost in the after life means wailing and grinding of teeth and burning flames - all images used by Christ. There is good news though: your eternal happiness does not rest upon the size of your 401k nor on its proper allocation amongst your family after your death.
There is ample reason to contribute to a 401k and any other retirement account and to be financially responsible. Proper handling and planning of your financial stability in the Christian tradition is called stewardship and it is, when done in the Lord, virtuous. But it is easy and even probable that we fall into the trap of somehow linking our life, or our death, to something as lifeless as a retirement plan. It is the age-old temptation to serve mammon.
The webpage I found the headline on was entirely secular in its outlook, so I wasn't surprised to see the message framed the way it was. But because we are constantly concerned with our mammon - even to the point it seems of wondering where our mammon might be after we have gone - we have replaced our eternal self, our very humanness, with emptiness. Death is not the end, but perhaps we don't believe that anymore. If the world has convinced us that death is in fact the end of you, then the message of Christianity is all the more poignant and needed right there. Christ rose from the dead. Christ rose from the dead. The Church will say it as long as she has breath: Christ rose from the dead.
So, yes, save your money. Invest. Plan. Retire. But do not forget charity. Do not forget the poor. Do not forget about life while your busy trying to get to retirement. And do not forget your worth, which cannot be measured by monetary returns. The Gospel promises a return greater than any market, and greater than any investment. Every time you think about your retirement, you should think doubly about your eternity.
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