To embrace Faith and to reject Pride we must embrace a poverty of spirit. It is no coincidence that Christ uses the term poor. His affection for the poor during his earthly life and his criticisms of the attitudes that wealth brought about were well documented in the Gospels.
What does it mean to be poor in Spirit?
When one is poor in spirit, they recognize the order of things. Our spirit recognizes that on our own we have nothing, that God is the source of all goodness. That God is the beginning of all Creation.
What would it mean to be "rich in spirit?"
If one is rich then they have or have access to a great many possessions. If someone is a spirit, what do they possess? Spirits have no need of physical things. Spirits do not eat, have no need of a house. Spirits are all intellect and will.
Who is all perfect intellect and will, the source of all intellect and will?
God.
When we recognize that God is the source of all intellect and will, or the source of all knowledge and love, the source of all that is true, good, and beautiful, then we recognize that in truth, we are spiritually poor. We do not have it all. Our entire spiritual life is from God in Heaven.
This is the first step in humility.
This is the first step in rejecting pride.
This is the first step in Faith. Believing in, and responding to the call of God. As was said in the movie, Rudy, "There's a God, and it's not me."
When we react in Faith, when we act in Faith, we are responding with the sense of poverty in spirit, the humility that Jesus calls us to in the Beatitude.
This is why Jesus speaks about the difficulty for the rich in entering Heaven. If they are so addicted to material things in their material bodies then it can become difficult for their spirits to become un-addicted from those things that keep us from recognizing that everything is from God.
It can be embraced in the perfect request of St. Thomas Aquinas when asked what he desired: "Only yourself Lord."
Is that what our Spirit desires? Is that the unique desire of our souls?
That is what it means to be poor in spirit. That is the blessing of poverty. We become cured of the idea that we somehow are God. That somehow in all of our wealth, either materially, or in spirit that we are more important, that we control the show.
If you have found the last couple challenges to be difficult, if you are finding this week that your humility factor is increasing, then you might want to take a look at this beatitude. If you look at it from a cost/benefit ratio, Jesus lays it right out for you, "yours is the Kingdom of Heaven."
Take a look at the rich young man from Mark 10:17-22. He could not be poor in spirit because he was rich in material goods. He knew that he desired the path to holiness and he did everything that he thought that he should do instead of surrendering his very will to Jesus. Instead of selling the things that were separating him from the Creator, from the Lord, from the Messiah.
He missed out on the monetary sacrifice and investment in order to make the spiritual one. He allowed his material goods to come between him and the Kingdom of Heaven, at least for the time being.
Can there be a greater reward? Can there be a greater return on investment? The only cost is everything that you are so that you truly become "poor." To sell that "one thing."
Questions for Reflection:
- In what ways are you "rich"? In what ways do you consider yourself "the master" of your own life?
- What does it mean for you to be "poor in spirit"? What would it take for you to sell everything that you have in order to follow Jesus?
- What is the "one thing" that Jesus would ask you to sell in order to follow him? In your heart you know what that one thing is. What is the fear that keeps you from doing so?
- How has an addiction to a material thing kept you from fully engaging in relationships in your life with your friends and family?
- How has an addiction to a spiritual possession kept you from fully embracing your faith in Jesus? From living a truly passionate life? From fully taking possession of the Kingdom of Heaven the way that Jesus promised? In what ways have you offered justifications for holding on to that "one thing"?
- For today, fast from a material possession that you believe you cannot "live without." This should be a material thing that will not jeopardize your job but something that is an "extra" that is a "perk" in your own life. Write down when it becomes difficult and what you did to "fill the gap" left by the lack of that possession.
- For today, give up an attitude that you know best what is good for others. Don't give advice today. Have a true poverty of spirit and when anyone asks for advice, recommend that they pray upon it and reflect on their own hearts. Let the Holy Spirit work through them today rather than through you.
- Go through a storage closet or a basement and put everything you have not used in the last year in a bag. Then give it away or sell it and give the money to the poor or a charity in your area.
- Give of your time for a small project that you would not normally give your time for. Help clean up a neighbors yard. Help a relative you have not seen in a long time by visiting and spending time with them.
- Allow your sense of self-importance to die by allowing work to be done without you. Let go of control of a particular project or relationship. Only step in if asked to. If the project succeeds, congratulate the people involved and promise to let them work on their own again. You may find that you will have more free time and that you have removed yourself from being God in someone's life in order to feed your sense of self-importance.
Mary the Mother of God
As you start something new, pray - "Lord, let it be done to me according to your Word."
Litany of Humility - Pray in the Morning
Written by Cardinal Merry del Val. He was accustomed to recite this prayer daily after the celebration of Holy Mass.
O Jesus meek and humble of heart, Hear me.
From the desire of being esteemed,
From the desire of being loved,
From the desire of being extolled,
From the desire of being honored,
From the desire of being praised,
From the desire of being preferred to others,
From the desire of being consulted,
From the desire of being approved,
Deliver me, Jesus.
From the fear of being humiliated,
From the fear of being despised,
From the fear of suffering rebukes,
From the fear of being calumniated,
From the fear of being forgotten,
From the fear of being ridiculed,
From the fear of being wronged,
From the fear of being suspected,
Deliver me, Jesus.
That others may be loved more than I,
That others may be esteemed more than I,
That in the opinion of the world, others may increase, and I may decrease,
That others may be chosen and I set aside,
That others may be praised and I unnoticed,
That others may be preferred to me in everything,
That others may become holier than I, provided that I become as holy as I should,
Jesus, grant me the grace to desire it. Amen.
Act of Faith - Pray in the Evening
O my God, I firmly believe that you are one God in three divine Persons,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
I believe that your divine Son became man and died for our sins and that he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe these and all the truths which the Holy Catholic Church teaches because you have revealed them who are eternal truth and wisdom,
who can neither deceive nor be deceived.
In this faith I intend to live and die.
Amen.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Before using a material thing, pray: "Only Yourself, Lord."
