Brotherly Love for the Wealthy as for the Poor

One man slumps in a tenement doorway. Another rides uptown in a chauffered limousine.  Is wealth an essential fact about them, one that determines who they are and how we treat them; or, is wealth like clothing that can be doffed on or off; from rags to Armani, and back? What if we treated the two alike, seeing in both the workings of sin and grace in our fallen world? What if we gave both the same awed flattery, the same tough love? How would that change fundraising - to see the rich as poor bare forked creatures, no more and no less than the broken man in the doorway? To see the wealthy as addicted, very often, no less than is the man in the door to his bottle, though to different intoxicants, possibly? All have gifts; all are equal in the eyes of God. All struggle with temptation and sometimes fail. All have a chance of redemption until the moment of death. Lord, teach me to love the wealthy as my brothers and sisters, serving them as a Saint might serve the poor with compassion, hope, and forbearance.