The last words of Steve Jobs the founder and CEO of Apple has inspired many. He states these memorial words.

“I reached the pinnacle of success in the business world. In others’ eyes, my life is an epitome of success. …. In the end, wealth is only a fact of life that I am accustomed to. At this moment, lying on the sick bed and recalling my whole life, I realize that all the recognition and wealth that I took so much pride in, have paled, and become meaningless in the face of impending death. In the darkness, I look at the green lights from the life supporting machines and hear the humming mechanical sounds, I can feel the breath of God and of death drawing closer… Now I know, when we have accumulated sufficient wealth to last our lifetime, we should pursue other matters that are unrelated to wealth… Non-stop pursuing of wealth will only turn a person into a twisted being, just like me. God gave us the senses to let us feel the love in everyone’s heart, not the illusions brought about by wealth. The wealth I have won in my life I cannot bring with me… You can employ someone to drive the car for you, make money for you but you cannot have someone to bear the sickness for you. Material things lost can be found. But there is one thing that can never be found when it is lost – “Life” …

Most successful people have the same regrets as Steve Jobs because wealth leads to a disillusion of success. Sadly, wealth is the motivating factor for most people, which mostly leads to consumerism. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains (1 Timothy 6:9-10, NRSVCE)

Consumerism, in simple words, means consuming more than we need. Consumerism is ingrained in our culture. We are consuming more of everything, food, clothing, housing, technology. We find our identity in the brands that we possess. It can be a designer handbag or a luxury car. We have become less human and more of a branded identity. Celebrities identify themselves with the brands they advertise. To promote the brands, they wear the brands, drive the brands, or use the brands, thereby, creating a trend that you are worth the brands, and by yourself, you are nothing. Consumerism leads to degradation of the human society, where the rich become greedy and want to possess more, and the poor lack the basic necessities required to survive. Consumerism violates human dignity; it desensitises us to the sufferings of others, manly caused by consumerism. The evils of consumerism are ample, effecting every aspect of our lives, especially our salvation. It alienates us from each other. It degrades our environment by increasing waste, because whatever we do not need eventually will end up in landfill. If we do some inventory of our household possessions, we admit that our wardrobes, cabinets, and drawers are filled with more things we do not need and with less things we really need.

Our greed for consumerism will deprive us of our eternal life with Jesus Christ, as it did to the young man in the gospel.

16 Then someone came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” 17 And he said to him, “… If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; …” 20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these; what do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. (Mt 19: 16-22, NRSVCE).

This is not just the plight of the rich young man, but the plight of many Christians who love wealth and possessions more than God. Like the rich young man, some Christians keep the commandments, however, when it comes to wealth, they are unable to part from it. How we spend our money will determine our eternal salvation and our eternal reward. Some people have placed all their confidence in wealth, making wealth their God and their idol. They believe wealth will solve all their problems. In the gospel, Jesus warns us of the dangers of wealth and not to place our confidence in it, but in God alone. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” (Heb 13:5). Jesus, when He instructs His disciples to go proclaim, He commands them not to carry any money (Lk 10:4) because He wants them to have their total confidence in the providence of God. We too need to have our confidence in God, who provides for us, rather than in money. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy …, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys… For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Mt 6:19-21).

The greed of consumerism encourages us to hoard on to things and possess more and more, however, in the parable of the rich man, who builds bigger barns, Jesus warns us that things of this world will amount to nothing, what matters is that we save our soul.

16 Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. 17 And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” (Lk 12: 16-21)

Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of all glory, came to this world in poverty, setting us an example to follow. Some saints renounced their worldly wealth and lived their lives in poverty, relying completely on God. Depending on our state of life, we are required to earn a living, pay a mortgage, and living expenses. However, the Catholic Social Teaching teaches us to give generously to charities. Catholic Social Teaching is not man’s idea, but it is the Will of God.

Consumerism is a complex subject; however, we can combat it in simple ways:

  1. Buy things that you need and avoids things you want.
  2. Live a simple life.
  3. Buy generic brands and avoid designer brands.
  4. Do some sacrifices and give to the poor.
  5. Don’t overeat.
  6. Support charities.
  7. Avoid using the latest of everything, if you can continue with the existing (phone, devices, cars, etc).
  8. Avoid fashion trends, in six months they will be gone anyway.
  9. Recycle and save the environment.
  10. Be humble and do not brag about your possessions.
  11. Donate things that are in good condition and you don’t need.
  12. Avoid window shopping and online shopping.
  13. Avoid sales and discounts for things you don’t need, don’t buy things just because they are on sale.
  14. Don’t buy excess of things you don’t require.
  15. Be money wise.
  16. Don’t let wealth be your motivation, instead, be driven by the love of God and works of charity.
  17. Be content with what you have and thank God every day.

And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” (Lk: 12:15)

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