The Ministry of Jesus Christ: The Beatitudes - Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:1-3 (RSVCE)

Our Blessed Lord, going up into a mountain, gathers His disciples round Him, and explains to them the Gospel law that He had come to teach to man. He begins with the eight Beatitudes.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

All men desire happiness. We cannot help seeking to attain it. It is the end and object of our lives. Our Lord's aim in coming down on earth was to teach us how to be happy or blessed. It. is of no use seeking to be happy by any other method than by that which Jesus prescribes. O my Lord, teach me this lesson! I desire happiness, and I desire also to learn from Thee the means of attaining it.

First and foremost, Jesus places poverty of spirit as necessary to happiness. The world says, "Get rich, and you will be happy," and those who take the advice find that riches do not bring happiness. Jesus says, "Be poor of your own free will, and you will be happy." The poverty of spirit that He recommends is a detachment from and readiness to resign all we possess for His sake.

What does He mean by poverty of spirit?

1) The willing renunciation of such riches as cannot be had without sin.

2) The dependence on God in the use of riches, and the readiness to resign them if we know that He asks it of us.

3) And best of all, the actual renunciation of all possessions, both in will and deed, that we may follow Christ in His sacred poverty.

To all such our Lord promises a treasure in Heaven - nay, He says that the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. What degree have I of this poverty of spirit?

- taken from The Ministry of Jesus Christ: Short Meditations on the Public Life of Our Lord, by Father Richard Frederick Clarke, SJ