Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me live into my poverty…

Mark 6:17, 20 -26

 
We arrive in this world naked, and naked we return to God our Father at the end of our lives.  In essence each of us human beings is ‘impoverished’, that is ‘poor’, from the beginning to the end of our lives.  Yes! We are each born into families with parents who, to the best of their ability, clothe us, and teach us language and other skills to help us along our life’s journey. The world and the flesh would have us think that any one of us can be ‘rich’ in fame, fortune and success, if we only try hard enough and are ‘lucky’. A second message we privileged people are given is that  If you need it and you want it enough, then you can get it! But the best the world has to offer in terms of comfort, fame and wealth are precarious at best and death-dealing at worst. With his teachings Jesus brings us back to the reality of God’s ways and the true riches that satisfy the human spirit:  “Blessed are the poor – the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs!”  When I concentrate on my right to be rich and comfortable in this world, I spend my talents, time, treasure and energy doing what I can do for myself, and dealing with false currencies of fear, greed and so called securities.  But when I relax into my own innate poverty, and depend on the guidance, the riches, and the mercy of God to give me what I need in due season - and in particular a heart, mind, soul and strength ready  to be freely spent for the love of God and others -  then, indeed, I do inherit the kingdom of God here on earth and all earthly wealth pales by comparison. This is how all my deep hungers of spirit can be fulfilled, how I can laugh despite the sorrows that wash over my life, and find inclusion with the company of Saints in the family of God, when I am hated, excluded, reviled and defamed by others who have turned away from the face of their Creator.  Indeed, embracing my own intrinsic poverty, along with spiritual chastity and obedience to God’s ways of love, become the high way to the kingdom of God.  Will I accept my own poverty and handle all riches of this world as lightly as possible, so that I find entry into the kingdom of heaven?  Holy Spirit of Jesus, help me live into my poverty.     
 
Blessed in the man … whose delight is in the law of the Lord.    (Psalm 1: 1-3)
 
The things that we love tell us what we are.
St. Mother Teresa
 
 
Soli ad gloriam
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