The Beatitudes offer a Christian training program to develop specific capabilities always in the context of a loving relationship to God: empathy, meekness, a strong spirit, mercy, personal integration, reconciliation and unlimited self-offering. These are the stepping stones to eternal life.
I want to focus on the first Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 5:3).
We all know what it means to be in material need. A poor person lives day by day and does not have an abundance of possessions saved up for the future. Each day, a poor person needs to earn or receive the things needed to survive for that day. A poor person’s life and work are concerned with necessities: food, clothing and shelter.
So we know who the poor are, but who are the poor in spirit? A person is poor in spirit who lives a spiritual life the way a person who is poor in body lives in a physical life. The physically poor work each day to receive bread. The spiritual poor pray each day to receive spiritual nourishment from the Lord: “Give us this day our daily bread.” The physically poor do not have time for unnecessary distractions. The spiritually poor see that they must always attend to the necessities of the spiritual life: prayer, works of mercy, confession of sins, and they do not give in to unnecessary distractions. The physically poor sometimes lack even necessary food for a time; the spiritually poor will sometimes feel abandoned by God and desolation in prayer, yet all the while will continue trusting in the heavenly Father to provide.
To be poor in spirit means recognizing that everything good in our nature comes from God. Anything worthy of praise in us comes from God and God alone. It means acknowledging our deepest human need for God on a daily basis. It’s only when we realize how badly we need God and how we are nothing without Him that we become worthy of the Kingdom He promises us.
The “poor in spirit” are not tempted to credit their cleverness or God’s special favor for any success they might have. Because the “poor in spirit” are immersed in God’s truth, neither wealth nor political influence can give them a false sense of security.
There are three ways we can practice to recognize our total dependence on God and live out spiritual poverty.
1. Receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation that helps us recognize our need for God by recognizing our own sinfulness.
2. Use the trifecta of phrases: “May I?” “thank you” and “sorry.”
3. Give alms to those in need.
There is a list of Beatitude-esque options to help us become more “poor in spirit” that I gleaned from a variety of sources:
1. Blessed are those who realize their constant need for God over, above, and beyond everything else.
2. Blessed are those not chained to the material and passing pleasures and luxuries of this finite world.
3. Blessed are those free from anything and everything that would interfere with an ever-growing awareness of their dependence on God’s mercy and love.
4. Blessed are those who recognize that no matter how their lives are going in the eyes of the world, they are successful in heaven when they are faithful on earth.
5. Blessed are those who need nothing more than God’s love and want nothing more than to share that love with all they encounter.
6. Blessed are those souls with nothing to lose on earth as those souls will lead many to heaven.
In short, the poor in spirit are those who are humble, those who depend upon God completely for every good. They also have the following in common. They all see the need to trust in God to provide for their needs; they all are detached from defining themselves with things; and they all love God more than wealth or honor. Whoever has these qualities will know that theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
I pray that you become poorer in spirit as you continue your faith journeys. Please pray the same for me.
