Re-learn the Vocab!!!
More and more, we become aware that the Jesus Movement is marginalized in the world. Many refer to the present time as the post Christian Era. (However, some might counter with the question, “Were we ever really Christian? Did we not kiss up the System with Protestant, Catholic and Jewish lingo?”
In many quarters, conventional wisdom tolerates our Christian “neurosis” as quaint. Thorstein Veblen, a sociologist of religion, said almost 100 years ago, that whenever bourgeouis (middle class) living became a seeming reality, then religion wanes. When things go well, transcendence fades in the background. Now we have seen the rise of Therapeutic Moralistic Deism (the Religion of Nice). Veblen’s words are verified again. The Religion of Nice eventually becomes the Religion of None! It is happening all around us already.
In others, some persecute the Jesus Movement. (A few years ago, Robert Royal wrote a book, “The (Christian) Martyrs of the Twentieth Century.” There is a shrine to such martyrs on an island in the middle of the Tiber River in Roma. Martyrs commemorated there were religious martyrs of the modern times. Among the places where martyrs appeared were WWII Europe, Mexico and Latin America, Communist China.
Conventional usage dictates the meaning of words and ideas. Catholics are particularly “linguistically challenged” in the Beatitudes, this morning’s Gospel. What Jesus means by a word is not necessarily what Western civilization means.
A prime example today is “poor (in spirit).” Who wants to be poor? Our culture thrives on prosperity and power and possessions, viz., paying your own way to control your reality. It is only game in town. Who would want it otherwise?
When Jesus gives us the first Beatitude today, He talks about a different type of poverty that is blessed to have been given. “Blessed is that one who knows that one cannot, no matter how hard one tries, ultimately to be the captain of the ship of Self”. God runs my show, not I. Some day, I’ll get it!
Three Noble Truths confront the one gifted with poverty in spirit. 1) No matter how hard you try, you cannot be the center of the universe. The world does not spin around you, no matter what your Mama told you. 2) Your existence is a part of a cosmic process known as life, death transformed life. Live with it; deal with it. 3) No matter how hard you try, you cannot avoid the down side of life permanently. You might buy it off here and now (and that is all right), but you cannot do so forever. Catholics, since St Augustine, call this process the Paschal Mystery.
We begin today a recitation of the Sermon on the Mount. There are some who say that if you focus on the Sermon on the Mount, you get a thumbnail of the Matthew’s Gospel There are those who say that if you focus on the Beatitudes, you get a thumbnail of the Sermon on the Mount. There are those who say that if you focus on the first Beatitude, you will a thumbnail of all the Beatitudes. What’s with Jesus when He says, “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for the Kingdom of heaven is theirs”?
It is important for us to clarify the meaning of the term “poverty in spirit”. In two biblical languages, viz., Hebrew and Greek, the “in” of poor “in” spirit refers to “aspect”. It certainly is not good to be poor when one has to worry about the next meal for one’s family or about the availability of satisfactory medical care. (May we never forget that many poor are not that far away from us.)
No, Jesus is not talking here about material poverty; He speaks of spiritual poverty, which recognizes one’s status as a human person. We are all here as contingent beings. None of us came into this world on our own. We were born and exist without any consultation. The Creator gives us life and creates us from moment to moment to moment. The awareness that each of us stands before our Creator with empty (and dirty) hands is the first step to poverty in spirit. No matter what our lot in life is, all of us exist because the Creator wills us so. This awareness is healthy and God-given. It enables us to view life accurately, from the Creator’s slant; it de-centralizes and relativizes our own position in the universe. God is the Center of the universe; we are not. Recognition of this is grace happening.
That is one reason why St Paul says in our reading from 1 Cor 1 this weekend, quoting the prophet Jeremiah, “Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” Boasting (self-reliance without taking God into the equation) was one of the worst sins that Paul could envision. Many in our world today (individuals and institutions) pride themselves on “rugged individualism”. This is extolled, even now, as a value by those who feel that they can tend themselves (frequently, through good fortune birth) and ergo, everyone should be the same. However, if you realize and trust in God’s unseen Presence in your moment to moment existence, Jesus tells us that you have received a great gift, the secret of successful human living, from the Creator’s perspective.
Therefore, as we hear the Beatitudes today, remember that so many biblical terms have been distorted and not understood in modern language. Poverty in spirit is a good thing; meekness, humility, single-heartedness (aka cleanliness of heart) are good things. They are gifts which acknowledge God’s Centrality in one’s existence”. When we accept that gift, we are behaving as mature and honest adults.
Pope Benedict in Jesus of Nazareth speaks of the Beatitudes at length. He reminds us of three items. 1) Jesus’ orientation is toward His relationship with God, Whom Jesus describes as abba, dada, papa. He instructs us that God wants this to be our orientation to God as well. Jesus tells us that this God is Our Father. 2) Jesus sees His disciples (that’s us) as people who should try, with His Indwelling Spirit, to acknowledge God as the center of our lives, just as Jesus does. 3) This acknowledgement does not come easily. Not matter what politicians and other TV pundits tell us, do not be so certain that we live in a culture that really sees God as its center. In God we trust sounds nice, but do we? This snapping out of it is what Jesus is trying to proclaim to all of us. (Recall that “snap out of it” is an accurate translation of “repent”, the Semitic word “suv”.) Pope Benedict says that Catholics have to be “people who do not run with the pack, who refuse to collude with the injustice that has become endemic in the world…They counter the dominion of evil through the passive,non-violent resistance of their suffering.” (pp. 86-87)
Jesus teaches, “Blessed is that person who with God’s grace acknowledges that God is the center of the universe (not oneself). Why? He or she is on the right track.” Who needs poverty in spirit? We all do and, with God’s grace, we can receive the Gift and share It with others by Gospel living each day. 013011AD AD jfq
