St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote, “No human being can live without pleasure.” But he also warned, “A person who starves himself of higher pleasures goes scavenging for the lower ones.”

Lower pleasures provide fleeting satisfaction that often leave us craving for more. They make us addicts by constricting our desire to transient gratification. Higher pleasures, by contrast, expand our desire. They stir a kind of inner restlessness that prompts us to ask, “Is this all there is?”

St. Augustine, after years of indulgence, came to understand that no worldly pleasure could truly satisfy his deepest longing. He was haunted by a persistent yearning for fulfillment and wholeness, something that wealth, sex, and power could never quench. He turned away from his former lifestyle and lived an ascetic life, hoping to kill the desires that plagued him.

Eventually, Augustine realized that the best way to deal with desire is not to deny, suppress, or numb it, but to recognize the discontent it provokes as a sign of our longing for something transcendent. He wrote, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You, O God.” Indeed, every desire can be understood, in some sense, as a yearning for God. In his Confessions, he reflects: “Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you. You were within me, but I was outside, and there I sought you.”

Sadly, many of us never arrive at that realization. Unwilling or unable to direct our desire toward something higher, we allow it to mutate into greed. In the film Wall Street, the character Gordon Gekko famously declares: “Greed is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies... Greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.”

Gekko’s unbridled enthusiasm mirrors the folly of the man in today’s Gospel. After a bountiful harvest, he realizes that his barn is too small to store all his grain. So, he tears it down to build a bigger one. Confident in his security, he tells himself he can now relax, eat, drink, and enjoy life. But God says to him, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded of you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20).

Greed compels us to accumulate possessions far beyond our needs. As one poor man quipped upon seeing a celebrity’s massive shoe collection: “Why buy so many shoes? She only has two feet.” Jesus offers a pointed warning: “Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.” (Luke 12:15)

Greed is a bottomless pit. It is an endless pursuit of a lie. No matter how much wealth a person amasses, it is never enough. Luxury today becomes necessity tomorrow. Wealth, instead of satisfying us, often enslaves us.

But greed is not confined to material wealth. Like some politicians, and government officials,we can become greedy for power. A senator may be content today, but tomorrow he dreams of the presidency. Once this dream is fulfilled, he will seek to stay as president indefinitely. Public office, once a stage for serving the common good and expressing human dignity, has too often become a playground for the power-hungry and self-serving.

Many bloggers, vloggers, and digital influencers also fall into this power-driven obsession. What may begin as a genuine platform for sharing creativity or insight can quickly devolve into a relentless pursuit of influence and control over public perception. To boost views and gain subscribers, they resort to clickbait titles and exaggerated portrayals of their lives and those of others. Ironically, in their quest to build a massive following, they lose the very voice and authenticity that once made them worth following.

The famous novelist, Joseph Heller, when told that he had earned less in his entire career than a billionaire makes in a single day, simply responded: “I have something that billionaire will never have—the knowledge that I’ve got enough.” Indeed, knowing that we have enough may be the most powerful antidote to greed.