Should I save for a rainy day? - Saint Theophan the Recluse

How much should we save for a rainy day?

These days we go to great efforts to make sure have saved to protect us from a future calamity whether it be an accident, illness, or old age. We are encouraged to have savings accounts, retirement funds, and all kinds of insurance. But what does this say about our spiritual state, our faith? Here is a view from Saint Theophan the Recluse.

Should we donate to help the needy instead of  trying to protect ourselves from unknown future difficulties?

Saint Theophan says, “I labored much but never saved money; whatever was left I distributed to the needy.”

What happens when we get old or fall sick ? 

He began to think, “Who will help me then, and take me in? How will I live?” That is what I thought, and began putting away money for “a rainy day”, at first a little bit from my work, and then more and more, so that I stopped helping others altogether as I had done before. With time I had saved up not a little for “a rainy day”. 

What happens when a rainy day comes?

Then that rainy day came. “A terrible wound appeared on my leg and I couldn’t work. I had to lie in bed and seek help from the doctors. But no matter how much I treated my illness, to the point where all my saved up money ended, it didn’t help. Finally the doctors said to me, “We will have to amputate the leg, otherwise you’ll die.” There was nothing to do about it, and I decided to lose my leg, if only to stay alive. Meanwhile at night I was sunk in thought. I remembered my former working life, when I had no sorrows and only joy that I could help the needy with my labors, and as if forgot to think about myself. 

It is faith that gives you real protection.

What did he remember? “I began asking God for help, repenting that I had become miserly, hoping in money to deliver me from every calamity. Then in a dream an angel of God appeared to me and said, “Where is your money you saved up for “a rainy day”? I began weeping. “I have sinned,” I said. “O Lord, forgive me, I won’t do it any more!” Then the angel touched my sick leg, and suddenly all sickness left me. 

When is it a sin to save up for a calamity?

“From that time on I considered it a sin to save up money for “a rainy day.” What do I need money for when the Lord Himself takes care of me?”

—St. Theophan the Recluse