The readings today call us to examine our values and goals. What and who do we hold to be valuable? How do we go about reaching our goals? It is unchristian to believe that an end can justify the means. Even the Kingdom of God is not a good enough end to justify any means that causes harm to people. Hurting people will not help bring about the Kingdom of God. Even the Church has at times lost sight of this in the zeal of the crusades and the inquisition. Anytime we try to justify our present actions by claiming that they will bring about a greater good later on, we are just deluding ourselves as we profit by another's loss.

The Bible and the Church tell us that how we live and with whom we live and associate is important. The people around us and how they live influence us. And we influence them too. We can make a difference in the world by the way we live in it. We are to be in the world but not of the world. "Mammon" translates as material wealth or dishonest or tainted money. We all need to use money but we need to be careful that we don't become tainted by it. Francis de Sales taught that just as a druggist has poisons in his shop for medicinal uses but is not poisoned by them because they are in his shop and not in his body or heart, so we can make good use of money and material things as long as they remain outside of our hearts.