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Open Bible
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evangelical texts!
The first beatitude
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- "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for the kingdom
of heaven is theirs"
- (Mat 5,3)
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This well known sentence of the Sermon on the Mount is the first
of the Beatitudes named that way because the following nine sentences
start with the same word " Blessed
.Beati (in Latin)".
In the Gard region of France, a group of people regularly
and willingly exchanges their understanding of a theme of the
Gospel. From an apparent praise of poverty, they asked themselves
what means concrete poverty.
Concrete poverty seems to be relative with the type of
society in which ones lives. Jesus himself, although not a wealthy
person, was not among the poorest (the son of a craftsman, close
to the pharisaic low middle class). However, his disciples were
among the lower class people with not many resources. During
its ministry, Jesus made himself like them, poor and a nomad.
Here too, one has to make relative the poverty. In a warm climate,
one not needs a lot of clothes, in a rather fertile agricultural
country, food was not missing much (except in drought period).
In a place where hospitality was part of the usage in all the
Middle East, every traveler would benefit of a network of solidarity,
(even though his family did not always recognize Jesus, in different
places he was welcome without restraint and sometimes with eagerness).
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However, the abandonment of material possessions puts us
in a difficult position. Up to what point should we be deprived
of material things? Is poverty an absolute good in itself or
complete poverty a disaster to be avoided? Having had to cope
with material poverty, one person in the group testified that
poverty does not really bring joy and serenity when it is too
severe, at least in our present societies. Quickly people are
separated from the society (see the homeless persons). You have
the feeling of abandonment, of being paralyzed, of not being
able to bring something to the others, socially, humanly and
psychologically. Complete poverty means to be on the margin of
the society, "Blessed are the poor" cannot mean
that.
Then how to find the right attitude between to be related
to the poor and not to be too close to the wealthy? Where do
we fit in? Perhaps the solution is to be in a state of mind that
allows us not to dwell too much on possessions. To have enough
for a descent living without being tempted to accumulate wealth
for the pleasure to accumulate them. To be able to distribute
our surplus to those who are poorer than us, to share and to
give and consequently fight against the poverty of the others,
to make good use of our money
. for the others; to not speculate
but use the material goods as a mean, no more, and not like an
idol. Neither to idolize poverty to a point of pleasure, but
if one has material difficulties, humbly accept them in trying
to overcome them with courage. It is probably the meaning of
poverty "in spirit". |