THE POOR IN SPIRIT, BY THE SPIRIT
(Tuesday, June 6)
“Blessed are the poor in spirit (τῷ πνεύματι, духом), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:3)
In English we read this Beatitude as “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” while the Greek “τῷ πνεύματι” and “духом” in Slavonic means also “by” (the) spirit. We are blessed, we are happy, when we allow ourselves to be “poor” or to be “have nots” in certain ways, by or through “spirit.” Whose spirit? Our own, in sync with God’s Spirit. We all “have” certain things, skills, jobs, places, and people in our lives, but “have not” more or better things, skills, places, and people. In some ways, we need to seek more or better things, skills, jobs, places, or people, depending on our vocation, on what God’s Spirit is calling us to do and be. But our God-given vocation also involves “not” having more or perhaps any of this or that, of being “poor” in certain respects. We cannot be blessed or happy, nor can we inhabit the kingdom of heaven, if we seek to “have” more or better or other than what we need. In and by faith, our spirit becomes blessed, when we seek on a daily basis to do His will and “clean house,” our spiritual house, of those desires and ambitions that lead us outside of our unique “room” in God’s kingdom. “Let your hearts not be troubled,” our Lord says to us, “You believe in God; believe in Me as well. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?” (Jn 14:1-2) So let us not fear being “poor” in the ways we are meant to be, because God is blessing each of us today not only through what we have, but also through what we have not.
