RICH!

There aren’t any roads directly leading up to it, but you can hear it as you get closer. The excitement mounts, the hubbub increases, and—suddenly!—there you are in front of the Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain). Rome may have its Vatican and St. Peter’s and such, but the Trevi is its true icon, its center. The largest Baroque fountain in the city, about 90 feet high and 70 feet wide, built in the 1700s.

Everyone throws coins into this fountain. Apparently if you do so you will return to Rome in a year. Yours faithfully, having been impoverished by an expensive nephew (just kidding, Jake!), didn’t want to return in 2011, so he kept his euros to himself.

There are other variations on this cunning maneuver: if you cast two coins you will be rewarded with a new romance (nope, not interested), and if you toss three, you can be sure of a divorce (nope, not applicable).

Anyhow, for whatever reason, there are about €3,000 (about $4,000) pitched into the water each day. They are supposed to be collected nightly for the Catholic charity Caritas. A few years ago Caritas noted a sharp dip in the funds and, after a lengthy surveillance operation, Rome’s cops arrested fountain cleaners who were sweeping off more than debris.

But nothing can beat “d’Artagnan” (aka Roberto Cercelletta) who fished coins out of the fountain for 34 years till he was nabbed by police in 2002. He was banned from visiting the fountain. Not so easily deterred, he returned, and in protest of his interdiction, slashed his ample belly with a razor blade. He was arrested again. He confessed to having pilfered coins six days a week, leaving the seventh day’s offerings for Caritas. Authorities think charities lost as much as €12,000 a month as a result. Not a bad way to “earn” money. “If I'm dying of hunger and am forced to return to the fountain to get money, if they try to stop me then, I will cut myself again,” he said from his mobile phone at his house in the Roman suburbs. Starving? On €12,000 a month? Yeah, right!

He is not rich who has a lot.
He is rich who doesn’t want more.
(an old philosopher)

But those who want to get rich
fall into temptation and a snare
and many foolish
and harmful desires
which plunge men into ruin
and destruction.
For the love of money is
a root of all sorts of evil,
and some by longing for it
have wandered away
from the faith and
pierced themselves
with many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:9–10

Instead of being greedy, Paul asks us to be content.

For we have brought nothing
into the world,
so we cannot take anything
out of it either.
If we have food and covering,
with these we shall be content.
1 Timothy 6:7–8

And here in the US, if you’re on welfare today, you possess more income than 95% of the people in third world countries. We are rich!

But there are riches that are better than gold and last longer than gold.

A gentle and quiet spirit,
which is precious in the sight of God
1 Peter 3:4
Rich in faith and
heirs of the kingdom
James 2:5
Wisdom is better than jewels
Proverbs 8:10
The unfathomable riches of Christ
Ephesians 3:8

We are …

… not to fix [our] hope on
the uncertainty of riches,
but on God,
who richly supplies us
with all things to enjoy.
1 Timothy 6:17

Next time, I’ll toss in a euro.