Life in the Christian Community

“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” - ACT 4: 32

Ananias and Sapphira

The Lord permitted the dragon and his hordes to return and tempt the faithful for their probation. But on becoming acquainted with the state of their souls and the great virtues, with which they were adorned, they found no approach open, nor any of the faithful that would listen to their insane deceits and illusions. Yet, on searching the dispositions and natural inclinations of each one, through which unfortunately they always carry on their fierce war against us, the demons found that Ananias and Sapphira were attached to money and had always sought after it with a certain amount of avarice. Of this weakness they availed themselves for their attack and they suggested to their imagination the expediency of reserving a part of the price of a heritage, which they had sold in order to give its proceeds to the Apostles in thankful acknowledgment of the faith of Baptism received at their hands. They permitted themselves to be entrapped by this low deceit, because they found it harmonizing with their base inclination, and they sought to deceive saint Peter. The Apostle knew of their sin through a revelation and he chastised them by permitting they both, first Ananias then Sapphira, suddenly to fall dead at his feet. Sapphira, without knowing what had happened to her husband, shortly afterwards practiced the same deceit and expired in the same way in the presence of the Apostles.

Reading the beginning of Chapter 5 of ACTS always stood out to me a severe chastisement against the love money and thereby inference; a lack of trust in God’s Providence for his chosen. There is a prayer said in Mass that goes along the lines of, “Pray, Brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.” If Jesus spared nothing in his absolute sacrifice on our behalf, how could a half-measure produce anything worthy of the Lord? Was it the deceit that was so sinful in the primitive Church, to virtue signal with a sacrifice of a portion of the sales of their property for the distribution of the apostles and disciples? What was their plan afterwards if feigning to live a life of poverty but a portion set aside for whatever material needs should arise? I can imagine a free gift offering in modern times, disciple of Christ the Church requires your cryptocurrencies, home, vehicles and whatever worldly possession you have, deposit them at the Church’s feet and God will provide for all of us. Tall order for most believers but in these times WE are not of one heart and mind but if we make it to the Fatherland we will be and to make it that far we must say to ourselves “He must increase, I must decrease.” Here is what Jesus said in reply to his mother about her prayers on the matter:

“My Beloved Mother, let not thy heart, in which I reside, be afflicted; for I shall draw much good out of this evil for my Church, and it is for this end that my Providence shall permit it. In chastising these sins I shall teach the other faithful, by a visible example, to fear such sins in the Church; and thus shall caution them against the deceit and the covetousness of money. For the some chastisement, or my anger, impends over all that shall commit the same fault; since my justice shall always remain the same against all that are rebellious to my will as taught by my holy law.”

- CH IX The Mystical City of God – Venerable Mary of Agreda

The Poor Widow’s Contribution

“He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.” - Mark 12, 41-44

Here is a simple lesson in a wholly and acceptable offering to the Lord. The widow ignores the necessity of her circumstance or perhaps has it in right alignment? God will provide and instead of just paying her tenth of a tithe, she gives all she has knowing that she is utterly dependent on the Lord for her substance and God on his part already knows what she needs before she even asks. There is a humility in poverty that cultivates love of neighbor that centers to obedience of God and his laws that lead to a sacrifice of everything transitory to a heavenly treasure that can be explained by “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

Will You Help Me Pay My Tithe?

I would like to give you some Moneroj (plural form of Monero XMR) but would you accept it? Are you that far in your cryptocurrency journey to take self-custody? I hope so. Just answer/solve this Riddle: What is more eviller than the Devil, more powerful than God? Rich people want it and poor people have it. State your answer in the comments with your Monero sub-address. If more than one person has the right answer, the winner will be randomly selected from the pool of right answers. I have no way to identify on the Monero blockchain nor do I want to but for the purposes of this gift I have to verify you as a legitimate Pub0x user: I’m going to need your account to be older than June 14/23 you will be disqualified if your account has spam comments. The amount given is between me and the winner. I will provide the private view key to the winner through email and mention the winner in my next post (within December). I’ve never successfully gave anyone anything on Pub for lack of participation, contest is valid for the two days until 12,21/23 07:00 UTC. If everything is good to go, I’ll just send the amount to your address and leave confirmation details in next post. If you would like to participate and qualify but don’t have a monero wallet here are some I recommend:

Feather [Desktop Wallet]

Anoneroio (TOR Browser required) [Mobile APK Android]

Mysu (TOR Browser required) [Mobile APK Android]

getmonero.org (Most of the usable wallets are listed, not all wallets are going to allow you use a sub-address)

Monero primary address looks like this:

888tNkZrPN6JsEgekjMnABU4TBzc2Dt29EPAvkRxbANsAnjyPbb3iQ1YBRk