What does it Mean to be Poor in Spirit?
The first beatitude listed in Matthew 5:3-11 is “blessed are the poor in spirit.” What does it mean to be poor in spirit?
To be poor in spirit and pure in heart requires attending to and nourishing our spiritual life. This includes a routine of spiritual reading, receiving the sacraments, and prayer. Living a life of prayer helps keep us to keep our lives rightly ordered and focused on Christ.
When our lives are not rightly ordered, it's easy to focus on worldly pleasures, comforts, too much about how we look, and have an unhealthy level of ambition in order to gain honor. It is a life of pride, which never leads to authentic joy or peace.
It is better to admit to our weaknesses and failures. Pope Francis says, “how trying life is if one does not accept one’s limitations!”
During a General Audience on 2/5/20, Pope Francis pointed out that we are already poor. As we are, we are poor: “We do not have to transform ourselves to become poor in spirit. We do not have to undergo any transformation because we already are. We are poor…it is the human condition.”
Admitting this takes humility. When we are humble, it is easier to depend on God for our needs. We acknowledge that he sustains our beings, something we cannot do for ourselves.
Next, if someone is poor in spirit, he or she is free from attachment to material things. They freely give to those in need. They trust that God will take care of them and provide what is necessary in life.
Think of St. Katharine Drexel, an American saint from Philadelphia who gave up her inheritance of 7 million dollars so that she could found a religious order and serve the poor and provide education! People were shocked at her radical lifestyle choices.
Further, people who are poor in spirit give out of their own need, which is what the Church calls us to do: “It is not enough to give of our superfluities to the needy of the world. We are to give even from our need,” (Happy are You Poor: The Simple Life and Spiritual Freedom, 67).
The Church has always taught this. The Vatican II document, Gaudium et Spes states, “the Fathers and Doctors of the Church held this opinion, teaching that men are obliged to come to the relief of the poor and to do so not merely out of their superfluous goods,” (69).
When we are humble and depend on God, we are better equipped to serve the poor. Detachment is so very important for our sanctification. When an excess of riches is given away, we are liberated to hear God speak to us and to receive his graces.
Being poor in spirit involves purity of heart, a heart that is empty so that God can fill it with his love. Therefore, we do not want to have cluttered hearts or minds!
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. (Matthew 6:21)