Avarice
Greed is the excessive attachment to riches. It is also the attitude, the character of someone who excessively restricts their spending.
In "The Gospel as it was revealed to me"
- Parable of the rich man and the poor Lazarus.[1]-[2]
- Parable of the rich fool: "Fool, this very night, your Soul will be required of you. And the things you have gathered, whose will they be?"[3]-[4]
- Greed is a sin for tomorrow, which we may never reach, but it is not a sin to be frugal in order to secure bread, and to secure it for one's parents, in times of scarcity.[5]
In Maria Valtorta's other works
In the Notebooks
- Catechesis of June 21, 1943: Spiritual Greed: "Do not commit the vile sin of spiritual Greed by wanting to hoard for yourself alone the riches I give you. I give them to you freely, but you must share them generously with others. When it comes to prayers and sufferings, you do so, but when it comes to my words, you are shamefully greedy."
- Catechesis of October 13, 1943: Commentary on the beatitude "blessed are the poor in spirit": "Being poor in spirit means having no attachment to the things of this earth; it means being free and detached from all pompous clothing, like humble pilgrims going toward their destination by benefiting from the help that Providence provides them. But not benefiting in pride and Greed, but as the Birds of the air, who happily peck the grains that their Creator spreads for their small bodies, and then sing their gratitude, so thankful for the feathers that protect them, not seeking more, and not complaining with anger if one day food is insufficient and if the Water from heaven wets their nests and plumage, but patiently hoping in Him who cannot abandon them."