Financial Psychology: Hysteria of Scarcity and the Exuberance of Extravagance

As we begin Holy Week, we have the embarrassingly extravagant, affectionate Mary anointing the feet of Jesus with a costly perfume and that stingy cheapskate Judas moaning about the "waste" of money. The contrast could hardly be sharper: overflowing, joyous generosity versus anxious, resentful complaining. The "Hysteria of Scarcity" is all around us. In our residence for women, for example, one lady worries constantly that we will run out of toilet paper. Another calls me to pick up milk even when we have four gallons in the refrigerator. Another over-fills her plate and later throws most of it away because she worries that someone she dislikes will get more than her. We see it more broadly in politics. On the right, we hear groaning about people who use food stamps for junk food and breast-beating about the deficit. On the left, we find envious obsession about the one percent and the growing inequality gap. To be sure, the long-term redistribution of wealth in favor of the obscenely wealth and the national debt we are leaving our grandchildren are both legitimate concerns; but isn't it strange that generally those who lament the one dismiss the other? A follower of Jesus knows only the boundless, excessive super-abundance of God and His Kingdom. There is ALWAYS plenty to share and tons left over. But this fullness comes in the costume of simplicity and frugality: consider the Eucharist...tiny, thin, tasteless, quiet, gentle, Divine! The one who feasts at this infinitely nutritious and delicious Banquet can only rejoice, give thanks, and share with others. Do not confuse this Cult of Plenty, disguised as austerity, with the counterfeit gospel of prosperity with its consumerist, materialist individualism. The Eucharistic Cult of Generosity is like the billionaire who doesn't look like one: dressed shabbily in worn-out jeans, he has hardly any cash in his pocket. His wealth is hidden in real estate and stocks. And so, the Catholic may be unimpressive to the exterior eye, but he feasts on and shares the Bread of Life.