A reader asks:

Have you ever written on the subject of material wealth and discipleship? To put it succintly, can someone who buys a BMW get to Heaven?

I reply:

I haven't. I try not to hand out free moral advice on subjects of which I have little personal experience. :)

They reply:

I wish you would ponder the topic and then write about it. Honestly, this is something I worry about- the Gospels seem pretty clear on the value of poverty and the difficulty of the rich getting to heaven. Do we all need to embrace poverty? Are we allowed to have expensive cars and houses? Should we? If we do, are we doomed? Should we all sell what we have and give it to the poor? I wonder.

I'm skeptical that the counsel given to the Rich Young Man is incumbent on all. But I certainly am no expert in the Church's teaching on economic justice. It's one of the weakest points in my understanding of Church teaching. If people want to knock themselves out talking about it, feel free. Just don't turn Church teaching into a copy of the GOP platform or Das Kapital.

I know neither how to gain wealth, nor how to use it (because I've never had it). My economic existence more or less consists of keeping our nose above water, running a steeplechase of writing and speaking to keep the wolf from the door, and trying to make the bills each month. I make a best guess at tithing, given the weirdly erratic nature of my income, and I try to be generous with my time and talent (and, to a lesser degree, treasure), waffling somewhere between feeling stingy and a profligate fool depending on how close or far we are from economic disaster each month. I have a notion that some people have a gift for making money that is as much a charism as healing or speaking in tongues. I'm not one of those people. So my mind is usually elsewhere than on worries about excess wealth.

Sorry I'm not more use. If I have any rich readers, or readers who have studied the catechism in this area, maybe you can chime in here with some useful counsel.