Beatitudes

First Beatitude

But who are the poor?

When Jesus said: "Blessed are the poor in spirit" and then, "Woe to you rich", how should the words of the Master be interpreted? Some, theologians, exegetes, etc. explained to us that Beatidud should be applied to the poor or rich belonging to the different social categories. In fact, the poor are those who live in poverty, while those who hold a lot of money are rich. Jesus also said: "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the deiceli kingdom".
Well, according to this interpretation, if the poor is blessed, the rich man can not enter the kingdom of heaven and walks towards his condemnation, because the Church strives to remove the beatitude from the poor to project it towards condemnation and not project the rich towards poverty?

Blessed are the poor in spirit because of them is the Kingdom of heaven
In the Holy Scriptures two kinds of wealth are mentioned; the material and the virtuous one. The Lord forbids accumulating the kind of treasures that can be consumed by the moth and the rust, which are exposed to the meal of moths and the snares of thieves (Mt 6,19), because they are the ruin of the soul. Instead, Jesus invites us to look for the wealth of those superior goods, which corruption can not undermine.

He who has no temperance, thirst for justice, wisdom, prudence is constantly tormented by the privation of these precious goods. On the other hand, those who voluntarily deprive themselves of all that is evil and of carnal vices are part of that poverty indicated by Jesus, whose reward is the Kingdom of Heaven.

If you allow yourself to be attracted by the deception of the passions, all the virtuous treasures will vanish like evanescent shadows, like smoke in the fog. Youth passes and the age inevitably advances and with it, if you have not remedied the disorders of your life, the pride will increase immeasurably, which will be the ruin of your soul. Do not cover your ears in the face of these discourses, do not reject that poverty that brings us closer to the heavenly riches. You only miss one thing: "go, sell what you have, give it to the poor, and you will have a treasure in heaven; And Come! Follow me!"
(Mt 19,21).

Poor in spirit is he who has changed material well-being with the heavenly riches, he who takes off the wealth of earthly goods as a ballast, to be carried high up in the air, and be raptured in the clouds of heaven to the Lord (1 Thess 4:17). Heavy is every kind of material sought for wealth, while virtue is light. If we wish to elevate ourselves to the things above, we must become poor by renouncing all that is dragging us down, so that we too may dwell, one day not too far away, in the higher regions.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5: 2-3). Who is poor in the spirit is humble; the Lord solemnly proclaims His discourse beginning precisely with the theme of poverty, or humility. The root of all evil is the greed of earthly things: for this unbridled desire, some have gone astray, have moved away from the faith and have made themselves torments with many sorrows. Do not be seduced by the false good, not to remain in the grip of so many real pains!

Timothy writing to his disciple, recommended "to the rich in this world not to be proud and not to place their hope in unstable wealth, but in God, who gives us everything with abundance so that we may enjoy it. Do good, be enriched with good works, be liberal, generous, and thus accumulate for the future a treasure placed on solid foundations that assure them the true life "(1 Tim 6: 17-19). There is nothing that generates pride as wealth: the rich does not possess wealth, but is possessed of it. The psalm mocks the man who puts hope in wealth, will be unnecessarily disturbed. He masses wealth and does not know who accumulates it.

Committed therefore to conquer the true richness: that is God himself, who offers us abundance of goodness in enjoyment. Listen to the Lord's advice. There is no safe place on earth: transfer it to heaven. What you have accumulated you would like to entrust to your proven heir of faith: entrust it to your faithful Lord! Your heir, however trustful, may even lose him in spite of himself. Your God, on the other hand, can not lose anything: all that you have entrusted to him, you will possess Him near Him, because you will have Himself. Christ says to you: "There is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or fields because of me and because of the Gospel, who does not receive a hundredfold now, in this time, in houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and sons and fields, with persecutions, and eternal life in the coming century" (Mk 10: 29-30); He then stipulates a transfer contract with him; from what you have down here on earth, and He will immediately make it to you with interests, but even more when you conquer eternal life. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are the kingdom of heaven: they are truly poor, and the Kingdom of Heaven will be theirs.

But how do you really become "poor in spirit"? Jesus himself says that those who want to follow Him on this path must deny themselves. This is poverty of spirit: the denial of oneself. On the other hand Jesus says to the Pharisees: "You will not enter the kingdom", because they are rich in spirit, that is, their heart is full of all those material "riches" that keep them away from God: they are proud, ambitious, full of pride and prisoners of earthly things. Both he who possesses earthly goods and those who are poor can be poor in spirit, provided he is not gripped by greed and envy.

The things that make man rich are gold, from the point of view of matter, and the affects, from the point of view of feelings. Gold includes not only coins and jewels, but also houses, fields, furniture, animals, cars, everything that makes life materially rich. While in the affections are included blood ties, friendships, loves, etc.

If the poor think it is enough not to envy those who have to be in order, because they have no possessions, yet even the poor must watch over, for even the most miserable of men can turn their own into a hardened, poisoned heart, wicked, full of greed, delirious with possession, with the risk of becoming sinful and rich in spirit.

It is necessary to use with love the riches that God grants us, whether they are affections or goods. And only those who do not make idols of them, but the means to serve God in holiness, show that they have no sinful attachment to them. Then practice the holy poverty of the spirit, which deprives you of everything, to be freer to arrive at God, unique and immense wealth. And only a fervent faith gives the strength of renunciation: Jesus invites us to the fullness of happiness, has come to announce that it is possible to be happy here in this existence, it is enough to love and desire poverty of spirit, which is nothing but poverty of vices.

  

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