The western world has always been making commerce out of Christ. Earlier it was indulgences and now it is the dollar in so many other ways, but all in the name of Christ. No wonder Swami Vivekananda had chastised them in America thus, "If you want to live, go back to Christ. You are not Christians. Go back to Christ. Go back to him who had nowhere to lay his head. Better be ready to live in rags with Christ than to live in palaces without him.” Yes, and he paid a terrible price for his open admonition thus. He was reviled, cast aspersions on, and even was on the verge of being poisoned when his merciful Master Ramakrishna rescued him.
This has been a significant trend in Christendom, this commerce to keep the pleasure of the Pope alive, the extravagant style of living, the opulence at the cost of the poor whose fears of hellfire were capitalised on in selling indulgences that would reduce their term in purgatory, absolve them of their sins and secure them seats in eternal heaven, all at the cost of a copper coin or two. Out of such poor men's collections were built the fortunes of Rome, now the Vatican, the papal palaces and the cathedrals were built and decorated with Renaissance art and sculpture while the poor Christians, gullible and giving, were reduced to penury.
The commerce continues even unto this day and it is an irony that it has been historically so in the name of one of the most ascetic of all personalities in the history of the world. But such are the aberrations that are witnessed in all spiritual orders and organisations in lesser or larger measure and the Vatican has held premier position in this regard.
God bless the poor who, though ignorant and superstitious, were in their simplicity the truer followers of Christ and not those who adorned their earthly lives at their expense.
Written by Sugata Bose
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