What a Beautiful Name
Happily Poor
Photo by Lesly Juarez on Unsplash
"Blessed are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours" (Luke 6:20).
When people succeed, they're often told how blessed they are, so we're likely to associate God's "blessings" with occasions of accomplishment and joy. This Beatitude, then, seems to be in reverse. Shouldn't Jesus have said something like, "Blessed are you who flourish"? To us this might make more sense, but to God it's just an unfinished sentence.
While it's good to be grateful for God's gifts, we can be sure that He expects more from us than worldly success of any kind. This first Beatitude teaches us that when we detach ourselves from riches, we find the joys of Heaven now. When we love God first, our treasures and achievements become secondary to practicing charity, and resisting pride, greed and envy.
Only by freeing our "spirit" from materialism can we give with a humble heart and become poor in the way Jesus describes. Only in becoming poor can we be truly "blessed" and acquire the finest riches found only in God's Kingdom: happiness, grace, beauty and peace.
Elizabeth
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About the Author
Elizabeth Tichvon is a Catholic writer and Consecrated Marian Catechist under the Direction of His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Always faithful to the Magisterium, she spreads and defends the Catholic faith as a true witness of Christ, confessing the name of Jesus boldly, never ashamed of the Cross.
Elizabeth became aware of the need for the New Evangelization while in the two years of her formation as a Marian Catechist and wrote over 200 published meditations on Sacred Scripture from the daily Liturgy of the Word for various Catholic websites, and following Jesus' example, now teaches through her own parables so that by sharing her stories through social media, might bring others closer to the heart of Christ. She is currently a regular columnist at Catholic365 and as a Marian Catechist, her spiritual life is the foundation of her writing.
She completed UCLA's Graduate Program With Honors and worked as a Paralegal for 32 years before retiring from Chrysler's Office of the General Counsel in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
