There's no just way to be wealthy.

It's that time of year I get tagged in Facebook and twitter debates in which someone has posted my Magnificat image and then some clever relative of theirs points out that all Americans are wealthy so they have no right to quote Mary's prophecy of the rich being sent away empty.

We all stand condemned. Our wealth itself testifies against us and will destroy us. The more wealth the more guilty. I don't know how to deal with my relative wealth but I know it's a problem not a blessing. Reparations are owed.

People are sleeping outside within view of my bedroom window yet I don't open my home to them and of course a pragmatic voice in my head says of course that's not a viable solution, but I also remember the rich young man who walked away from Jesus sad, for he was very rich.

And also it's counterrevolutionary to wallow in whether our individual wealth is too much. There are realistic solutions to poverty. We have more abandoned houses in this city than homeless people. We could simply house everyone. We could forgive all debts. We can abolish wealth.

Things don't have to be the way they are.