For the first six sundays of ordinary time this year, our
second readings are taken from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians.
Throughout his letters, St. Paul gives us a glimpse into those
early Christian communities: the Philippians, the Galatians, the Ephesians, the
Thessalonians, the Corinthians. Like our own, each of those communities had its
own history, its unique and diverse gifts and particular challenges.
Paul praised the Philippians for instance, for their
generous support of the poor, and for their commitment to working together. The
Philippians took seriously the need for Christians to cooperate in the spread
of the Gospel. Yet they were not without challenges. Paul had to address
disunity and rivalry among them.
The Galatians too had their gifts. Paul describes the tremendous
outpouring of the holy Spirit in Galatia; miracles, even, were evident there.
Yet Paul had to address how members of the Galatian church were being swayed by
a "different gospel," as he called it. Some members were insisting
that gentiles had to be circumcised if they were to be saved. And where does
Jesus teach that? He doesn’t. So, Paul had to correct their sacramental
theology: that it is baptism, not circumcision which unites us to Christ, our
Savior.
So, too, the Ephesians. Paul praised their strong faith in
Christ and their love for the saints. He thanked God for the profound spiritual
blessings evident among them. Yet, the Ephesians, too, had challenges. Paul
detected some willful ignorance in them, hardness of heart, callousness,
licentiousness and impurity. And so he challenged them to grow in Christian maturity—to
get serious about casting off their old way of life and to put on the new way
of Christ.
And then there were the Corinthians! Oh, the Corinthians.
Thanks to St. Paul’s extensive correspondence with the Corinthians, we are
better informed about the church at Corinth than probably any other
first-century Christian community.
Paul extolled their knowledge, their eloquence in speech,
and the diversity of their spiritual gifts. Yet, just because they knew the faith and were
eloquent in explaining it, didn’t mean they were living it. There were
divisions and quarrels among them. The Corinthians had allowed the sexual
immorality of the pagan culture take root in their community. They had
disagreements about Christian marriage and food offered to idols. They also had
arguments about theology. They had
issues with disorder in worship. Their church politics was causing division.
All of these divisions, theological, earthly, and moral were threatening their
mission and their souls.
This is why Paul began his letter, as we heard last week,
urging the Corinthians to strive for Church unity—unity in faith, behavior, and
worship. Why? Because division hinders the mission. It makes it hard to prove
that Jesus is the Way of peace and reconciliation and holiness, if our
divisions are disrupting that peace. So Paul urges the Corinthians to make
every effort to strive for unity among them.
That concern for unity is exactly why Paul turns, in today’s
passage, in our second reading, to the teaching on humility.
“Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters.” Our
calling to what? To be first and foremost, witnesses of the Gospel. And it’s
not because we were rich, powerful, and wise that God chose us, but because we
are foolish, weak, and sinful, in other words, we were in need of saving. No
amount of earthly riches and worldly knowledge or wisdom could get us to
heaven. We can’t get to heaven on our own. We can’t find peace and joy and
fulfillment on our own. We need God. We need Jesus Christ. And the Christian is
first and foremost a soul who humbly admits he needs God.
That brings us directly to the Beatitudes. In the Gospel
today, we hear the beginning of the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount, this series of
short but powerful teachings, known as the beatitudes: teachings about the
dispositions, attitudes, decisions Christians are to practice if we are going
to live a blessed life on earth that leads to eternal blessedness in heaven.
The Lord begins his Sermon, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It
is not arbitrary that Jesus teaches this beatitude first. For it is not one
Beatitude among many. It is the fundamental beatitude that is necessary to
obtain the others—It is doorway to all the rest, and instruction that every
Christian is to adopt at a fundamental level.
When the Lord says “blessed are the poor”, he’s not saying
that poverty is holy. He’s not saying that all poor people are holy, and by
virtue of their poverty, they are automatically going to heaven. He’s not
saying that all Christians need to be materially poor.
What’s he saying. Fundamentally, essentially, To be poor in
spirit is to recognize our need for God—not occasionally, not in emergencies,
but always. It is the recognition that we cannot save, justify sanctify, or
redeem ourselves. It’s to acknowledge that we are not only incomplete without
God, we’re incomplete if God is not the absolute center and primary force of
our lives, of every decision and relationship.
If poverty of spirit is not our fundamental disposition, and
God is not the absolute center of our lives, then something else is. Something
unholy. Pride. Pride, the deadliest of sins because it claims, I’m not poor in
spirit, I can get to heaven on my own, I can be fulfilled without God.
Pride, is believing the same lie that the enemy told Adam
and Eve in the Garden, you don’t need God, you don’t need to obey, you don’t
need to give your heart to Him. You can make it on your own, you’ll be happier
without Him.
Pride. It hinders advancement in the spiritual life because
it makes God secondary to our own egos. It stalls conversion, halts repentance,
obstructs spiritual growth, impedes the mission of the Gospel. It keeps us from
the life-giving waters and mercy of Christ, the spiritual fire of the Holy
Spirit, and the loving embrace of the Father.
But blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven. To be poor in spirit means to open wide the doors of ones
mind, soul, and heart to God.
This is why St. Paul stresses humility—poverty in spirit—as
the remedy for the division and immorality in Corinth. Because as each member
of the Church seeks God with their whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, they
are brought in deeper union with God and with one another.
Each of us does well to ask the Holy Spirit to helps us
identify how we are called to better strive for and live out that first
beatitude. What does it mean to be poor in spirit in my understanding of
Catholic doctrine? What does it mean to be poor in spirit in my approach to and
celebration of the Sacraments? What does it mean to be poor in spirit in my
moral life—in my obedience to the commandments, the call to charity and the
cultivation of the virtues? What does it mean to be poor in spirit, to throw open
the doors of my heart in prayer?
May the Holy Spirit help each of us to identify who we can
take more seriously this first beatitude, to grow in surrender and trust and
obedience to God, who heals the wounds of sin and division for the glory of God
and the salvation of souls.
