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T is impossible to meditate too much on Our Lord’s admirable instruction to us, to ' take heed and beware of all covetousness.’ There are several kinds of avarice. One is of a sour and sordid description, which amasses wealth unceasingly, but never touches it for enjoyment. Of this kind, the Wise Man says: 'and what doth it profit the owner, but that he seeth the riches with his eyes?’

But there is another sort of avarice, far more cheerful and liberal, which — like the former — desires to amass perpetually, but with the object of enjoyment and satisfaction. This was the avarice of the man depicted to us in this Gospel.

A covetous man of this latter kind feels great contempt for the miser who denies himself