We all know what it means to be poor. 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 he needs to survive for that day. His life and work are concerned with necessities: food, clothing, and shelter. He does not have time or money for vacations and pleasant diversions. If someone is particularly poor, he will sometimes even lack necessities for a time. The life of a poor man is summed up well by the proverb: “The poor man toils as his livelihood diminishes, and when he rests he becomes needy” (Sir. 31:4).
So we know who the poor are, but who are the poor in spirit? Someone poor in spirit is someone who lives in his spiritual life the way a man who is poor in body lives in his physical life. The physically poor man works each day to receive his bread. The spiritual poor man prays each day to receive spiritual nourishment from the Lord: “Give us this day our daily bread.” The physically poor man does not have time for unnecessary distractions. The spiritually poor man sees that he must always attend to the necessities of the spiritual life: prayer, works of mercy, confession of sins, and he does not give in to unnecessary distractions. The physically poor man sometimes lacks even necessary food for a time; the spiritually poor man will sometimes feel abandoned by God and desolation in prayer, yet all the while will continue trusting in his heavenly Father to provide for him.
Another possible meaning for the expression “poor in spirit” is that it names those who are detached from wealth because of their love for God. Someone can be detached from wealth for many reasons. He may be lazy or imprudent; he may be subject to a false ideology that says wealth itself is an evil. None of these exhibits special merit. But those who are detached from wealth because they are attached to God deserve some reward. Such people see money as merely a means to the end of loving God. They freely bestow from their goods upon the poor. They do not sin in order to acquire or keep wealth.
But even among those who are detached from wealth, there are two kinds. First, there are those who are not excessively attached to their wealth so that they rightly subordinate their desire for wealth to the love of God. Second, and more perfectly, there are those whose love for God is so great that they simply have no desire for wealth at all, and even spurn it. Souls such as St. Francis of Assisi exemplify this more perfect poverty of spirit. This kind of poverty of spirit is clearly motivated by the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
In another sense, the poor in spirit can refer to those who are detached from worldly honors. That is, they are humble. And when their poverty of spirit is great, they even spurn worldly honor, as Queen Esther did: “You know that I hate the glory of the pagans . . . that I abhor the sign of grandeur which rests on my head when I appear in public; abhor it like a polluted rag, and do not wear it in private” (Est. 4:15-16).
Finally, the expression “poor in spirit” can mean poor in the Spirit. This does not mean that they have little or nothing of the Holy Spirit. Rather, it means that their poverty is motivated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For such men, the gifts of the Holy Spirit incline them to seek their treasure in heaven: “Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Luke 18:22).
In short, the poor in spirit are those who are humble, those who depend upon God completely for every good, bodily and spiritual.
All of these ways of understanding the expression poor in spirit have three qualities in common: they all trust in God to provide for their needs; they all are detached from wealth or honor; and they all love God more than wealth or honor. Whoever has these qualities is an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven.
But if poverty of spirit is so important, then why does Luke render this Beatitude as simply “blessed are you poor”? Luke, when recounting this Beatitude, omits “in spirit,” leaving the reader with the impression that poverty by itself is sufficient to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Does Luke disagree with Matthew? Of course, one scriptural text must be interpreted in light of and in harmony with the rest of Scripture. So any explanation of these texts that asserts a contradiction is not a Catholic interpretation, nor is it consistent with the divine authorship of all Scripture.
Nevertheless, there is a reason for the differences among parallel passages. Recall that Luke is recounting the Beatitudes as addressed to the crowds who were following Jesus. These people were extremely poor, and many were considered cursed by God and outcasts by the ruling society in Jerusalem. The very fact that they were following Jesus and attracted to his message was a sign that they had the right interior dispositions. (Something similar happens when a penitent comes to confession. The very fact that he is there is positive evidence to the priest that he is sorry for his sins.) Jesus perceived their good dispositions, and when he addressed them, he wanted to leave them without any doubt that they were blessed in the eyes of God, despite their culture telling them that the rich were blessed by God and the poor were cursed. So Jesus simply says to them, “Blessed are you poor.”
Notice too that, in Luke’s account, Jesus uses the second person (“you”) rather than the third person (“those”). This is because Jesus is speaking directly to the poor right in front of him. And he knew that they were also poor in spirit, so he had no need to add this further qualifier “in spirit.” Moreover, by simply saying “poor,” Jesus emphasizes simultaneously that wealth, in itself, is not a sign of God’s favor and that poverty of spirit is more easily achieved by those who are actually poor.
Poverty of spirit requires the least spiritual maturity to practice. It takes very little spiritual maturity to see that wealth cannot be our happiness. Money is always a means to something else, whereas happiness is the ultimate end of all our desires and choices. That is why the Beatitudes “blessed are those who mourn” and “blessed are the meek” require greater spiritual maturity to practice than “blessed are the poor in spirit,” and why this Beatitude is first among the eight.
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