IFTTT Autopost 
Today, on this 11thSunday in Ordinary Time, we read this from the Book of Psalms:
“The just will flourish like the palm tree,
and grow like a Lebanon cedar
Planted in the house of the Lord,
they will flourish in the courts of our God.
Still bearing fruit when they are old,
still full of sap, still green,
to proclaim that the Lord is upright.
In him, my rock, there is no wrong” (Psalm 92: 13-16)
These are beautiful words, but some people have twisted them to support the idea of a “prosperity gospel,” a teaching that proclaims that if you are “of God,” you will be rich and healthy and have an abundance. Likewise, the prosperity gospel teachings say, if you do not measure up as a good Christian, you’ll be poor and needy and perhaps sick.
The horror of a prosperity gospel is the idea that it is your fault if you are poor, or sick, or in need. That, of course, is not the teaching of Catholic Christianity. Many great saints lived their whole lives in sickness and great need. The “fruits” of their labor were not earthly goods or huge numbers of conversions, but, rather, the way they lived their lives. In other words, the “fruits” of holiness are the virtues one possesses, not how much money or physical health one has.
