Time to See Anew

How does one become poor in spirit, …answer me that!

Now, when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 5:1-3)

Instead of what people say about heaven, Jesus preached it is available to you and me in the “here and now.”  Not simply as some future payback earned for good behavior or good standing in the eyes of men, but by our consent to participate with Divine Presence within each moment of our lives. It is an ongoing invitation and response of free will.

Still, the first beatitude has puzzled me since childhood. Are we not called to be filled with the Spirit?

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Hard circumstances of these past few years pointed me to the contemplative traditions of the Church to which I have gained a deeper meaning into what it means to be “poor in spirit.”

I take from the writings of Christian mystics such as John Cassian, Benedict of Nursia, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Meister Ekhart, Teilhard de Chardin, Thomas Merton, and others. I’ve also studied the contemplative practices of Centering Prayer, Christian Meditation, and Mindfulness.

These spiritual masters offer insight into spiritual questions that the modern Church struggles to articulate and much less practice.  The Spanish Carmelite priest, St. John of the Cross (1542-1591) was a close spiritual associate with Theresa of Avila and her efforts at reforming the Carmelite community. They are both considered Doctors of the Church. John of the Cross wrote Dark Night of the Soul, Ascent of Mount Carmel, and the Spiritual Canticle.

After reading St. John’s Spiritual Canticle, I was stunned. Following are the specific lines that left me with a profound sense of personal communion and shared wellspring from which he wrote.

Where have you hidden, Beloved, and left me moaning?
I will go beyond strong men and frontiers.
Do not send me any more messengers: they cannot tell me what I must hear
…and being brought near death by the arrows you receive.
Extinguish these miseries, since no one else can stamp them out;
I no longer knew anything and lost the herd I was following
…there he taught me a sweet and living knowledge
…I am no longer seen or found on the common
…thus my eyes deserved to adore what they beheld in you
I offered you my hand, and restored you, where your mother was corrupted
Let us rejoice, Beloved, and let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty

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I think most of us think of poverty in terms of a lack of money and personal possessions. The contemplative tradition and practice go much further. The contemplative tradition defines possessions to include “my personal thoughts, my opinions, my beliefs, my practices, my desires, my body, as well as my memories of past life experiences.”

It includes money and wealth while transcending to those greater “possessions” that we place near and dear to our hearts – and that we hold on to for fear of losing our self-made sense of identity. One could say the egoic-self.

To experience the kingdom of God here on earth, or let’s say participate in the divine “blessings” of this life, requires a detachment of “all” possessions. I also believe it safe to say that in this earthly life we can only attain this in a matter-of-degree.

Regardless of how one may answer this question, the indisputable truth is that we will leave behind all our possessions one day: our money, our thoughts, our practices, and our beliefs. This wisdom of the first beatitude says we can experience divine blessings in this very moment and before that fateful date.

Personally, all this is quite timely. I find myself having reached the secular “promised land” of elder years: Social Security and before too long Medicare.

Yet, there remains an excitement and great exploration for new ways of seeing and enjoying the road less traveled.

In this latter stage of life, values change as they should. My days of child-rearing, employment, and institutional obligations are behind me. There is now certain freedom, and I’d rather not take it for granted. So, I continue my baptismal walk seeking and trusting in God Alone, with a little less naivety and along with a newfound sense.

From Doing to Being

Knowing to Unknowing

Problem to Mystery

Self-Assertion to Shared Humanity

Ego to Self

Activity to Passivity

Achievement to Fruitfulness

Attachment to Detachment

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God Bless, and feel free to post a comment.