主題：如何在天主前致富
生活在今天的香港，究竟需要多少錢纔足夠呢？這是大部份人所操心的問題。
假設你是單身一族，不用供養父母。衣著方面，假設一年更換一套衣服，包括內衣褲、恤衫、西褲、外套和鞋襪等，全年消費大約由三千五百元起，平均每月三百元。食物方面，平均每日三餐約一百五十元，每月大約四千五百元。如果你沒有物業，祗可能在天水圍分租一間房，每月大約四千元，水電另計。又假設你在中環上班，用月票乘西鐵，南昌通要五百元，再加上每日來回約二十元，交通費約一千二百元。即是說，沒有消遣和交際，不用求醫，未計納稅和購買保險，每月最起碼的開支大概是一萬元。倘若想節省些金錢作為儲蓄之用，惟有「節衣縮食」，因為居往與交通的控制權不在自己。即是說，假如你每月的收入不足一萬元，你不要妄想依照舊約【創世紀2:24】的教導，人應離開父母，與妻子結合，二人成為一體…，假如你與父母同住，你每月可省回四千元的房租和一千五百元的晚餐費，共百分之五十五的總開支！做父母的一定會為兒女著想，當然希望幫助自己的兒女儲蓄，將來成家立室。如果環境許可，他們是會免收你那五千五百元的食宿費的。
誰不希望手上有多一點現金，可作周轉，以備不時之需呢？多一點到甚麼程度，纔算貪婪呢？經過以上粗疏的分析，倘若你一個人每個月除去一切必需的支出，還可剩餘超過一萬元的話，恭喜你，你可能貪婪了一些，或者動聽點說，你有大志，你的賺錢能力比別人高。因此，你應該檢討你的理財方案。你應該把剩餘的金錢買債券還是基金？投資股票還是供樓呢？眾所周知，這類投資有風險，價格有升有跌。但世上有一種投資，祗有升，沒有跌。這是甚麼的投資？
不要以為做基督徒不可以富有。瑪竇福音所記載的「真福八端」說的是『神貧的人是有福的』，是精神上貧窮，不是指物質上貧窮。意思是指能善用錢財，能管理運用，也能隨時捨棄，不為錢財所約束。今天的福音也有類似的教訓，不可屯積錢財。耶穌的比喻指出一個現實，既然你死後不能帶走任何物件，你生前的積蓄將歸誰呢？你認為珍貴的東西，你的子孫未必認同。我多年來收藏的書藉，我不會期望我的子女有興趣讀。或許身後留下的金錢可以幫助到他們吧！但與其留下百萬家財，倒不如教曉他們自食其力，待人接物，在社會上作一番貢獻來得實際。
基督徒要善用手上的金錢，在天主面前致富。這是耶穌所教導的「基督徒理財哲學」，就是運用現世的錢財，幫助窮人；當幫助窮人的時候，我們在服事臨現在窮人身上的耶穌基督，亦即是把金錢轉帳到天上的銀行戶口，在天主面前致富。
在金融市場有很多投資工具，大多是「高風險高回報」或者是「低風險低回報」的。當然亦有很多魚目混珠的衍生工具。那麼，在幫助窮人時，我們有沒有一些「高風險高回報」的選擇呢？有，而且是耶穌親自教授的投資秘訣！
在下一個月，常年期第廿二主日的福音之中，耶穌教導我們，在設宴時，要請貧窮的、殘廢的、瘸腿的和瞎眼的人，因為他們沒有能力報答你（路14：13-14），他們是屬於「高風險」的投資。但同時也是「高回報」的，因為天主會親自替他們報答你。所以，要選擇幫助沒有能力報答你的人，是耶穌教授的投資策略。
我想再一次提醒大家不要跌進「功利主義」的陷阱。即是說，倘若你是為了天堂銀行的戶口豐滿而幫助窮人，你的回報率將會大打折扣。倘若你是出於愛德，出於渴望親近看不見的天主而去親近可以看見的窮人、難民、病人和在囚的人，恭喜你，你會得到不折不扣的回報。這也是在慈悲禧年，教宗呼籲大家多做的神形哀矜。請大家爭取機會，好像玩Pokemon Go一樣，主動留意身邊的「精靈」，身邊那些沒有能力報答你的需要幫助的人。
這裡沒有任何標準答案，因為豐儉由人。我們姑且從「衣、食、住、行」四方面考慮，便可以得到一個粗略的估計了。
天主保祐！
Eighteenth Ordinary Sunday, Year C
Theme: How to get rich toward God
How much money is sufficient to live in Hong Kong today? This is a question most people ask.
Suppose you are single and do not need to support your parents. Clothing: suppose you need to change your clothing once a year, including your briefs, shirts, trousers, jacket, socks and shoes. You spend roughly $3,500 a year, about $300 per month. Food: In average, you spend $150 for three meals a day, about $4,500 a month. Suppose you do not own a flat. You may rent a room for about $4,000 in Tin Shui Wai here, not including power and water supply. Further imagine you work in Central and take West Rail with a Nam Cheong Pass which costs you $500. Adding extra $20 return fares, you spend a total of $1,200 on transport. That is to say, excluding entertainment, social gatherings, medical consultation, tax reserves and insurance, you roughly spend $10,000 a month. The only way to save up money is to cut your clothing and food because the costs of housing and transport are beyond your control. In short, if you earn less than $10,000 a month, don't ever fancy to follow the instruction of Genesis to "leave his father and his mother and cleave to his wife, and they become one flesh ..." (Genesis 2:24) If you live with your parents, you can save $4,000 rent and $1,500 dinner fees, a 55% of total expenditure. Parents always care about their children. They want to help them save up enough money to build up their own family. If the situation allows, they may exempt you from paying them $5,500 board and bread fee.
Who does not want to save up some cash in hand for contingency purposes? How much saving would make saving greedy? From the rough analysis above, if after spending all you need to spend and there still remains more than $10,000, congratulations! You probably are a bit greedy, or put it more politely, you are ambitious and your earning power is higher than most people. Therefore, you should revise your fund-management plan. Should you buy bonds or unit trust? Should you invest your money in stocks or real estate? Everybody knows that there is risk in investment. Price may go up or down. But in this world, there is one kind of investment which always goes up and never goes down. What kind of investment is this?
Do not ever think that a Christian is not allowed to be rich. The Beatitudes in Matthew advises us that in order to be blessed, we should be spiritually poor. It does not mean materially poor. It means to make good use of money, to manage it but at the same time ready to abandon it, not to be controlled by it. The gospel today has a similar teaching. It advises us not to hoard riches. Jesus' parable illustrates a reality: since you are not able to carry anything away after you die, who will inherit the treasure you have accumulated? What you treasure, your children may not value. I have accumulated thousands of books all these years but I do not expect my children to enjoy reading them. Or perhaps we can leave them money to help them. However, would it rather be more practicable to teach them how to make money, to deal with people and contribute to the society than to leave them millions of dollar?
Christians should make good use of the money at hand to become rich towards God. This is what Jesus himself taught about the philosophy of fund management: To make use of the money in this life to help the poor. When you help the poor, you are serving the Jesus Christ present in them, thus transferring your fund into your account in heaven, to become rich toward God. There are many investment instruments in the financial market. Most of them are either "high risk high returns" or "low risk low returns". And of course there are bogus ones. Then, is there such "high risk high returns" strategy in helping the poor? There is and this advice comes directly from Jesus!
Next month, in the gospel reading of the 22nd Sunday, Jesus teaches that "when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind because they cannot repay you." (Luke 14:13-14) They belong to "high risk investment". But at the same time, they are "high returns" because God will repay you for them. Therefore, Jesus' investment strategy is to choose to help those who cannot repay you.
Lastly, I would like to remind you not to fall into the trap of utilitarianism. That is to say, if you help the poor with the intention to inflate your heavenly account, your reward will be diminished. If you do it out of charity, out of the desire to come close to the invisible God through coming close to the poor, the refugees, the sick and the imprisoned who are visible, congratulations, your reward will not be deducted. These are the corporal and spiritual works of mercy advocated by the Pope in this Jubilee of Mercy. So, take this opportunity to seek out, like playing Pokemon Go, "monsters", those needy neighbour who cannot repay you.
There is no model answer. It depends on how luxuriously you want to live. Let us think along the four essential areas: clothing, food, housing and transport. Then we may get a rough estimate.
God bless!
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