«Blessed are you who are poor»

Jer 17,5-8; Ps 1; 1Cor 15,12.16-20; Lk 6,17.20-26
17 FEBRUARY

Saint Paul, wishing to exhort the Corinthians to be generous in their charity towards their brothers in Judea who were in great scarcity, gives them the image of Christ, so that he were always before their eyes and they too would behave imitating him.

We want you to know, brothers, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones, and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us through the will of God, so that we urged Titus that, as he had already begun, he should also complete for you this gracious act also. Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others. For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich. And I am giving counsel in this matter, for it is appropriate for you who began not only to act but to act willingly last year: complete it now, so that your eager willingness may be matched by your completion of it out of what you have. For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have; not that others should have relief while you are burdened, but that as a matter of equality your surplus at the present time should supply their needs, so that their surplus may also supply your needs, that there may be equality. As it is written: “Whoever had much did not have more, and whoever had little did not have less” (2Cor 8,1-15).

It is right to ask oneself: what are poverty and riches according to the Gospel? Poverty is delivery to God, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit, of all that one is and possesses. Nothing is ours, because everything is of God. The mind is of God, the heart is of God, the will is of God and the body is of God. If everything is of God, the use of ourselves and the fruits matured by us are of God. They must always be used according to the will of God. Christ Jesus is all of the Father. His body was also used by him according to the will of the Father. The Father made it a sacrifice of expiation, salvation and redemption in favour of every man.

And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

On the other hand, Wealth is the appropriation of what is God’s by creation. Everything belongs to God. Nothing is given to God. Everything is kept for oneself. Nothing is used according to the will of God. In wealth, God of man is things. Things end up, one remains in eternal poverty. In poverty, God of man is the Lord. The Lord for the man who is delivered to him is not only Providence, but also eternal life and every other good. Whoever gives himself to God with his whole self, is preserved in the casket of life by God. Who withdraws from God and places himself in his hands, in his goods, is placed in the casket of eternal death. Poverty is not lacking in something. Wealth is not even possessing something. Poverty is depriving oneself of the self in order to give himself entirely to God. Wealth is keeping everything for oneself, without giving anything to God. We can be poor in substances, but not being of God.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints ensure that our life is a total gift to Christ the Lord.