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Is the Kingdom of Heaven Yours?
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October 2, 2023Friday, September 22, 2023
Is the Kingdom of Heaven Yours?
(Readings: 1 Timothy, 6:2-12;
Psalm 49:6-20; and Luke 8:1-3)
Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs."
When we hear this first of the beatitudes from the 5th chapter of Matthew it may seem odd to us that Jesus says that the Kingdom of heaven is given to those who are poor in spirit. For a long time, the problem I had in understanding this statement was that I didn’t know what being poor in spirit meant. Because the scriptures use the word poor, it confused me because it didn’t make sense to me that Jesus would say this of those who were weak or deficient in their spiritual life. Of course, that’s not what Jesus is saying. That’s not what Poor in Spirit means.
What Jesus meant by saying “Blessed are the poor in Spirit” is Blessed are those who don’t have any material possessions, who are as poor as you can get. It would be easy for them to reject God, but instead they place their trust and confidence totally and completely in the Lord. That’s the group of people Jesus is describing.
We see this all over the world, don’t we? The poorest of the poor, even those lacking the basic necessities of life seem to always have the strongest faith in the Lord. Throwing themselves on the mercy of God for their very existence whereas those in much more wealthy countries such as ours where even our poor are rich compared to many parts of the world, often take for granted all the blessings that God is constantly showering down on us.
In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 8:1-3 tells us of those accompanying Jesus, all of whom had given up everything to follow the Lord—the twelve whom he named Apostles and many women.
Some, such as St. Matthew, gave up considerable wealth or earthly possessions and dedicated themselves—even to the point of death—to serving Jesus and spreading the gospel. Others such as Mary Magdalene had been cured of evil spirits and serious illnesses by Jesus.
Those Jesus called were so grateful and strong in their faith that they used whatever things of earthly value they possessed to provide for Jesus and the Apostles so they could focus on preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God.
In our reading from the 1st Letter of St. Paul to Timothy, St. Paul first warns Timothy not to accept any gospel other than the sound words of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
He said that those who accept other gospels understand nothing and create envy, rivalry, and division among the faithful. It’s clear that from the beginning the Apostles understood that there would be those who would try and take the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles and twist them to meet their own needs and desires, instead of surrendering themselves to God’s love through the message Jesus lived and proclaimed.
St. Paul speaks of this in several places throughout the scriptures. In fact, in his first letter to the Galatians he said, “Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel other than the one you have received, let that one be accursed.”
Dividing the faithful through a false gospel, must be one of the favorite tactics of the devil, because today, some two thousand years later, we have over 30,000 Chistian denominations all teaching and preaching, in ways both large and small, a different gospel.
As Catholics, we always need to remember that the Catholic Church is not a denomination. We are not one of many. We are the Church!
How blessed we are to be part of the Church Jesus personally started! The Church that he said the gates of hell would never prevail over and the only Church that, in spite of the sinfulness of even many of our leaders over the centuries, still preaches the original gospel Paul speaks of.
St. Paul concludes this reading by encouraging us to be Poor in Spirit as Jesus said, acknowledging that we brought nothing into his world, and we shall take nothing out. That we should be content with the blessings we are given—not falling constantly into temptation, envy, and foolish and harmful desires that lead us to destruction.
My friends, I understand that this is easier said than done. But the way to avoid these traps of the devil is to draw closer to the Lord each day by developing a strong relationship with him. By spending time with him here at Mass. By receiving him and his grace and mercy through the sacraments. By conversing with him in prayer and adoration. And by diving deep into the word of God so that we may truly recognize the tactics the enemy is using to draw us away from the Lord and reject them immediately.
Brothers and Sisters, we all know, as the scriptures say, that in this life we are in a constant battle: not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. So let us surrender to the Lord all that we are and all that we have, becoming Poor in Spirit so that when faced with a choice between the Ways of God and the Ways of the World we will always, always, choose God and one day be blessed to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Amen.
