[Pearls Episode 137: Taking Sunday into the work week.]
As we carry Sunday’s Gospel message into the week, we can think about how it sheds light on the beatitudes.
Jesus’ persistent warning to keep mammon at arm’s length calls to mind the first beatitude – Blessed are the Poor of Spirit. Which comes with this promise – “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
It’s not for nothing this is the first beatitude – it opens the gate to all of the others.
This beatitude can be viewed in terms of exterior poverty, in which case blessed are those who are poor (because they truly rely on God to survive from day to day) as well as those who learn to live as if they were poor (by detaching themselves from worldly comforts). But it can also be viewed – perhaps more importantly – in terms of interior poverty – and we look at that in the postscript.
What makes something a beatitude? How is it different than simply a good habit, or virtue? When does “being poor” become beatitude?
Well, let’s look at trying live as if we are poor – becoming detached from worldly comforts. Here are two things we soon learn when trying to live that way:
- It does not come naturally – it takes effort. It hurts a little to deprive ourselves.
- It really does not get any easier if that is all that we do.
#2 is the key to the situation. If our sole focus is self-denial our progress will be slow and difficult. Self-denial is important, but it is just one piece in the puzzle. What we need first and foremost is to grow in relationship with God, and everything that entails – mental prayer, worship, love of neighbor and denial of self (the first beatitude). When we grow in love for God and neighbor, we will necessarily become less self-absorbed. Guess what happens then? After a while, self-sacrifice becomes easy. It becomes natural. We welcome sacrifice because we see it as a way of uniting ourselves to Christ, of becoming our true self, and being a source of grace for the people around us. Now when we sacrifice and act as if we are poor, we are happy – with a true happiness that is not forced. This true happiness is beatitude. And now we understand Blessed Are the Poor. It is no longer something that we are consciously forcing ourselves to do. It has become who we are.
Or more accurately, our way of life has become God’s way – the way people live in the kingdom of Heaven.
That type of transformation doesn’t happen overnight, or in a month. It happens little by little – that’s why Jesus keeps repeating the message, so we keep working at it. And then, without even realizing it, we look back and see the change.
And, that type of interior transformation is beyond us – but not beyond the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. Perhaps this week, pray to the Holy Spirit for inspiration for the next small step we can take on our way to that kingdom.
Blessings on your journey with Christ –
Steve and Karen Smith – Interior Life
Postscript: Interior Poverty
As good as it is to detach ourselves from the physical trappings of wealth, there is an even deeper interior poverty which comes with detaching ourselves from our ego – our pride and vanity. This is when we recognize that we are truly nothing without God. We recognize any good that we do is only because of God. For the umpteenth time we reference Saint Faustina, who when near death and thinking she had given all that she had to God, was told by Jesus that she was still holding one thing back from Him – her suffering – she was thinking of that as her own. The fullness of poverty (the first beatitude) is when we recognize that every last thing we have and are, is from God, and we hold none of it back.