"Blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of God" (Luke 6:20) or as Matthew puts it "Blessed are the poor in Spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven" (Mathew 5:3). These where the first words of Jesus in his sermon on the mount. He started his public ministry by emphasizing the place and role of poverty in the whole story of the Christian person. But poverty is something abhorred, rejected and never wanted. Can we say that Jesus is happy with the deprivation and wretched situations we see in some under-developed countries, the wretchedness that makes many to die of hunger or the crisis many experiences based on the fact that they cannot afford some basic necessities of life. Surely, this is not the will of God because we cannot see the glory of God in a man who is not fully alive. What, then, is Jesus referring to when he talks about this?
To better understand this, I guess it will be better for us to look at what poverty is. There are several definitions of poverty depending on the context in which the word is used. When someone lacks money to take adequate care of his needs, he is called poor, when someone lacks knowledge enough to pass his exams, he is regarded as poor in that area of studies, when someone lacks good driving skills, he is called a poor driver and so forth. But in whatever context poverty is used, it is basically the lack of security. Security in the sense of having what it takes to have an assured future in that particular area. For instance, a man who is poor in earthly riches isn't certain about his future material sustenance and one who is academically poor in a particular area isn't sure of how he will go about solving an issue in that area, should any arise or will a poor driver drive a vehicle securely. Thus, it goes with a necessary dependence in a more reliable source to be of help in situations where we are poor. For instance, someone who is poor in medical knowledge will need the aid of a doctor when he is sick to take adequate care of his health.
How then can this lack of security be of help to us especially as Mathew emphasized, lack of security in the spirit. Jesus, here, is only trying to bring to our knowledge a very important part of our nature. We are intrinsically dependent. We lack the basic securities about our future, vocation, life, sustenance and in fact, every aspect of life. For me, Jesus is not trying to ask us to be poor because we cannot help but be poor but He is teaching that it is only those who accept this truth about themselves and live by it will inherit the kingdom of heaven. That is those who submit their cares fearlessly in the hands of God trusting that he will certainly help them. This is why in another place in his sermon on the mount Jesus said "That is why I tell you not to worry about your life and what you will eat nor your body what you will wear... set your hearts on his (God's) kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6: 25, 33-34). This, also, was the doctrine of many saints even though some called it different names; St. Francis will not want to be separated from his dear Lady Poverty, St. Theresa of the Child Jesus will use the analogy of a child resting fearlessly in the Father's arms, St. Louis de Montfort will talk about Holy Slavery, St. Pio of Pietrelcina will talk about total submission to divine providence. All this is based on the conviction through experience that in all our struggle both in material things and most especially in our journey towards the kingdom, we cannot be successful if we try to do it by own strength based on our intrinsically poor nature but that we need to accept our limitedness and submit to God especially through prayers of submission and surrender.
This realization and practical living of our intrinsic poverty is not lacking in the life of Mary, Her acceptance of the divine motherhood, the trust with which she fled to Egypt, the pondering of God's messages in her heart and the words of the Magnificat shows us the heart of one who truly understands that she is nothing and all she has is from God and who is willing to surrender to God for his will to be done. For unless we humbly accept our poverty, God's will cannot be fully realized in us and unless His will is realized in us, we cannot inherit his glorious kingdom. Let us today imitate Mary in saying "The Almighty has done great things for me, Holy is his name" This is a prayer of one who has realized that she is nothing and that all she has is from God.
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