Faith in God, Not in Money

CEBU, Philippines - There is a story about a saintly priest who was one day preaching on the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He was especially emphasizing the words of St. Peter performing the miracle on the lame man with the words, “Gold and silver I do not have, but in the name of the Lord Jesus, rise up and walk!” (Acts 3:6-7)

Upon his return to the sacristy, his attention was called by the sacristan to the abundant collection being counted, “See, Padre, the Church cannot say anymore that she does not have any silver and gold!” The saintly priest retorted, “Neither can she say rise up and walk.” The priest meant that there was a scarcity of miracles in the church due to its alleged abundance in material wealth.

The movement Catholic Church Preparing for the Parousia was inspired by a story by Salvador Roxas-Gonzales. It was a conversation that supposedly took place in the comfort room:

Person 1: Are you a Catholic?

Person 2: Yes, the other kind.

Person 1: Which kind?

Person 2: The kind that believes in God and not in money.

In last Monday’s issue of The Freeman (August 13, p. 28) there was a photo of a Catholic priest standing beside an altar of the Yakhyeon Cathedral in Seoul, South Korea. The news item mentioned that Pope Francis would beatify 124 tortured and executed Korean martyrs.

When Pope Francis will visit our country in January next year, I hope that he will beatify our very own Bishop Teofilo Camomot, who was exceptionally not money-minded.

I can personally testify to this because when Monsignor Lolong, as he was fondly called, was the parish priest of Carcar (not yet a city then), I was the parish priest of Ocaña, a barangay of Carcar. Moreover, I was also the adviser of a doctoral dissertation entitled “Life and Works of Msgr. Teofilo B. Camomot: Implications to Educational Management,” which was successfully defended at the Cebu Normal University Graduate School by Sr. Ma. Irene C. Macaraya, DST in January, 2003.