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WE ARE SPIRITUALLY PROSPEROUS

The Rev. Duke Tufty, Unity Temple on the Plaza, Kansas City, Mo.: Prosperity properly defined is having what we need to the degree we desire for a comfortable and fulfilling life. Oftentimes we take this to mean money and material possessions, but true comfort and fulfillment come from the positive emotional experience we receive from everything we have and everything we do.

People can have an abundance of money and material possessions, but if there is no joy, peace of mind, healthy loving relationships or a sense of well-being in their lives, in actuality they are living in emotional poverty.

God not only wants us to be prosperous, God has made us prosperous. When we shift our perception of God from an old man sitting on a throne deciding who gets what, to God as the very life force of our being, the invisible spirit that resides in each of us, it becomes obvious that God is an all-giving, non-discriminating provider, and we are the receivers.

We have everything we need to live an enjoyable life. The spiritual attributes each of us have such as love, peace, harmony, joy, imagination and inner strength, just to name a few, are unlimited in abundance.

Our attention may be clouded at times, and we believe our ability to love has diminished or disappeared, but this would be like living with hunger pangs while sitting at a banquet table with a great feast before us. Prosperity is ours; all we have to do is claim it.

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WE MUST WORK TO SPREAD PROSPERITY

The Rev. Pat Rush, pastor, Visitation Catholic Church, Kansas City, Mo.: Since the late 19th century, one pope after another has issued important documents addressing world economic systems and the dignity of each human person. This has created what is by now a sprawling body of Catholic economic analysis, generally known as Catholic social teaching. Catholic social teaching addresses the moral responsibility of devising just economic systems benefiting everyone.

Catholic social teaching calls for global economic development, in which every person has the opportunity to participate. It further asserts that every person has a responsibility to live an ethical social and economic life, which gives the priority not to individual profit and wealth but to the common good of all.

In July, Pope Benedict XVI made his contribution to Catholic social teaching with the release of his third encyclical letter, "Truth in Charity," in which he continues the economic themes of his predecessors. He emphasized global development, anti-poverty efforts and a host of worker rights. He dismissed the notion that the economy has an in-built "quota" of poverty and underdevelopment required in order to function successfully.

To achieve a broader prosperity in our world today, Benedict called for both structural economic reform as well as the conversion of individual hearts and minds. The pope wrote, "Development is impossible without upright men and women, without financiers and politicians whose consciences are finely attuned to the requirements of the common good."

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VOICES OF FAITH

Send your questions for one of our panels of religion columnists to Helen Gray at The Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108. Send e-mail to hgray@kcstar.com.

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