Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
The man poor in his spirit
When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you (falsely) because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Mt 5,1-12a
It would be right if we should mirror to ourselves in this page of the gospel for the entire life, as trees in a bright small lake in the mountain. Every day we should wonder whether we are meek or arrogant, whether we bring the pace or the war, whether we have been merciful or whether we have been not capable to forgive; whether our heart is pure or turbid because of passions, of intrigues, of grudges and of hate. We should wonder to ourselves whether we are persecuted because of Christ, or whether we are appreciated and esteemed, because well included into the dynamics and the way of thinking of this world. It would be a long examination and it would find place with difficulty in our commitments of the day. There is a beatitude, the first – “Blessed are the poor in spirit” – which summarizes to some extent all the others. Then, when we raise up in the morning, we should wonder: “ Am I poor or rich, in spirit?”. Let’s see what it can mean. The poor in spirit is the one who feels to be inadequate to his project of life: inadequate as parent, as witness of the gospel, as professional, as friend of the persons encountered during his day. The poor in spirit is the one who feels to be sinful, needing of forgiveness and of salvation, who is always searching for the Lord, to obtain from him light on the facts which surround him. The poor in spirit is the one who is aware not to be able to love: not only the enemies, but also the persons who are the closest to him. The poor in spirit is the one who would have a reason to feel to be alone, not understood, abandoned, ill, elderly, without resources. Then, as is it possible to get out from this humanity to enter in the beatitude of the man who feels to be reach, because poor in spirit? The only recipe which we know is a spiritual path along these roads: to intensify the prayer to always live in communion with the Lord, to tank and to praise God for everything which he gives to us, starting from the donation of the life and of the faith; to feel to be loved and pardoned, to ponder every day the Holy Scriptures from which we breath the thinking of God and to frequently get close to the Eucharist, because that bread which is transformed in the body of Christ donates the real force to surely walk in the roads of the world. We do not know any other recipes.