“the tax collector stood off at a distance and
would not even raise his eyes to heaven”
Jesus tells us in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit”[i]. Spiritual poverty is to be stripped of self. Spiritual poverty simply means that we know we have to rely on God. The Pharisee in the Gospel is full of himself; spiritually he does not rely on God, but rather relies on self. When we are physically poor and stripped of all our needs, we ask God to feed us, to shelter us, to come to our aid. Saint Francis is one of the greatest examples of spiritual poverty. He gives us the following analogy. “What does the poor man do at the rich man’s door, the sick man in the presence of his physician, the thirsty man at a limpid stream? What they do, I do before the Eucharistic God. I pray. I adore. I love.”
What does suffering and sorrow have to do with spiritual poverty? “Where there is sorrow there is holy ground. Someday people will realize what that means. They will know nothing of life till they do.”[ii] There are many stories of how people have had to hit rock bottom before they turn to God. It is when they can no longer take care of themself that they turn to the only one left: God. When Jesus asks the apostles, “Will you also go away?” Saint Peter replies, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”[iii] Many people are used to going to their family, friends, money, addictions and relying solely on them self. When all of that is gone or when those things cannot meet the deepest needs of the human heart, there is nowhere to go. It is at the moment of despair and humility that we cry out like Saint Peter and say, “Lord, to whom shall I go?” “When all trust, all hope, all earthly and created aids have been taken from us, we shall have no more aid, we shall have no more trust, we shall have no more hope save in God alone. This is the right hope, the right trust known to the saints, a hope and a trust based solely upon the mercy of God and the merits of Jesus Christ. But you will have this hope only after God has destroyed in you the last clinging roots of your trust in self. This may come to pass only if God keeps you for a while yet in entire spiritual poverty.”[iv]
Give some examples of conversions, of people that have had to hit rock bottom before they have a conversion before they humble themselves and have the poverty of spirit.
God is always visiting us; He is always knocking at our door. Conversion is when we let Him in. It could also be said that God is always reaching toward us, to hold our hand, but it is only when we are knocked down and unable to get up that we reach out our hand toward him. This reaching out on our part is what conversion is all about.[v] In 2010, 33 Chilean miners were trapped underground for 70 days. One of the Chilean miners, in a moment of crisis, had a moment to choose if he would reach out to the devil (despair) or reach out for God (dependence and hope). "I think I had extraordinary luck. I was with God and with the devil. And I reached out for God."[vi]
When have been some difficult times in your life, in which you were unable to turn to others or yourself and when you turned to God?
VIDEO – Leaving Soccer for the Priesthood
VIDEO - From Pro Soccer to the Priesthood: The Witness of Fr. Chase Hilgenbrink
Chase Hilgenbrinck was a successful soccer player, and had a bright future ahead. Now he is in the seminary to become a priest. A great video about listening to God’s voice no matter what and living the life he wishes.
VIDEO – “LOST: The Hatch”
Desmond in a series of unfortunate events is stuck on an island in a hatch. He has been down in the hatch in solitude for many years and is kept from seeing the love of his life. He gradually falls into a deep depression to the point of even contemplating suicide. As he opens up Our Mutual Friend (which he later states that it would be the last book he would read before his death), he finds a note Penny had hidden inside before he was sent to prison, telling him not to despair, as well as reminding him she will always wait for him and she loves him. Even more depressed now, he goes into a rage and makes a mess out of the hatch. As he collapses, Desmond then hears someone shouting from the top of the hatch. Unknown to Desmond, it is Locke (Terry O'Quinn) asking the hatch for help after Boone's fatal plane injury. When Desmond turns on a light to see who it is, Locke, thinking his prayers have been answered, quiets down. Desmond, similarly, considers the voice to be a sign he is no longer alone, and regains hope.
In this segment from LOST, Desmond does not despair because at least one person loves him and will wait for him. Many times if just one person loves and waits for us we can get through a moment of despair. How much more than our friends and loved ones, does God, love and wait for us? Wait are examples of how God has loved us and waited for us, how He has loved His people and waited for them?
How do we measure spiritual poverty? Why is it difficult to know our spiritual needs? It is very easy to know our physical needs. It is easy to measure physical poverty. In America, if you are single and make less than $11,000 a year, you are in physical poverty. If you were homeless, you would be considered poor. In the opening prayer, we ask God to “strengthen our faith, hope, and love”. It can be difficult to measure faith, hope and love. Since we cannot measure the spiritual, we might not think we are “in need”, that “we are poor”. Since we cannot know our spiritual “wealth” or “poverty” it is always best to humble our self as the tax collector in the Gospel and to cry out to God, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” We should always remember “our natural inclinations are prone to evil from our very childhood; and, if not corrected by self-denial, they will certainly carry us to hell.”[vii] We can also remind our self that “to hinder the enemies of our soul from drawing us into sin, we must watch, pray, and fight against all their suggestions and temptations and in the warfare against the devil, the world and the flesh we must depend not on ourselves but on God only; ‘I can do all things in him who strengthened me.’ (Philippians 4:13)”[viii]
How often, and in what ways do we rely on our self for both physical and spiritual needs? We think we are clever when we get our self out of a bind, or know the right people, etc. We have hope in our self and trust in our self. It is easy to think that if we store up enough money and know enough people we will always be taken care. In a society that is increasingly self-centered and trusts in self, we hear the Divine Mercy message of “Jesus, I trust in You.”[ix]
The opposite of spiritual poverty is the sin of pride. The Pharisee in today’s Gospel is prideful; he is taking care of himself; trusting in self, hoping in self. There is no need for God in his life. He tells God through his prayer, “I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.” Care of the body and care of the soul are different. When we are hungry we eat, when we want a new car, we work and then we buy the car. In our physical life, we can often rely on our self, our family and friends or even the church or state to provide for us. In the spiritual life, things are not as black and white. In the spiritual life, we are always “poor” and we are always “in need.” It is God alone who is the only one who can provide our need. It is only by the “mercy of God” and the “merits of Christ” that we can be satisfied. “The Lord hears the cry of the oppressed. The prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.”[x] If we try to satisfy our own spiritual needs not only will we be frustrated and gain nothing, but we will lose spiritual poverty and begin to think that spiritually we are well off. We can save up money for certain material things, like a car, and we can also save our souls and store up riches in heaven by prayer, alms giving and works of mercy.
ACTIVITY – Sacred Heart Accounts
Jesus Christ, by His death has merited us forgiveness of sins as well as all the graces necessary to attain holiness/perfection. He is the one mediator in which can reconcile God and man. Saint Paul says, “For there is one God. There is also one mediator between God and the human race, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as ransom for all.”[xi] “Christ continues his work of mediation, no longer to merit the grace of human forgiveness, but to communicate the grace already won on the Cross. Moreover, others than Christ may also be called mediators in a totally secondary sense.”[xii]Christ therefore has already merited or gains all the graces necessary for salvation. Christ is eternal and therefore these graces are also eternal.
How do we acquire these graces merited by Christ?There are many ways to acquire graces. We can do good works. All good works are cooperation with the one good work, the work of Jesus Christ. We can pray. Liturgical prayer and popular devotions are a good place to begin. We can also offer up suffering and make sacrifices. Each time we do good, pray, and make sacrifices with the intention of acquiring grace from Jesus we acquire those graces. We may also acquire graces for others through our good work, prayer, and sacrifice. There is a sense of satisfaction when we can make a deposit into a bank. Spiritually we can also make deposits into spiritual bank accounts called Sacred Heart accounts. For example we may set up a Sacred Heart account for each member of our family. As we go through our day we may decide to pray a decade of a rosary and give any grace from that decade to our mother. We may decide to work a few hours for a co-worker so they can go home early and give any graces from this act of charity to our father. We may deny our self dessert at dinner and deposit any graces from this sacrifice to our spouse Sacred Heart account. This activity helps us to realize the many graces that are available to us and others throughout our day.
[i] Matthew 5:3
[ii] Oscar Wilde, De Profundis
[iii] John 6:67
[iv] Father Jean-Pierre De Caussade, S.J.; Magnificat; Vol. 2, No. 8
[v] Refer to Spiritual Reading in this Link to Liturgy lesson
[vi] Mario Sepulveda, the second miner rescued
[vii] The Penny Catechism
[viii] The Penny Catechism
[ix] The message Jesus asked Saint Faustina to have placed on the bottom of the Divine Mercy image.
[x] First Reading (Sirach); 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time
[xi] 1 Timothy 2:5-6
[xii] Fr. John Hardon, S.J., Modern Catholic Dictionary