Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

In today's Gospel we hear "Blessed are the poor in Spirit" in the Beatitudes. Christ calls each of us to be poor. What does this exactly mean. Jesus calls us to poverty, not in the sense of destitution, but to be poor as to be dependent on God. Many times we get accustomed to or comfortable with the lives we are living, especially with our material possessions. Whatever we have it is important to remember that it is a gift from God, blessings that we cannot receive without the Lord's abundant grace and mercy. Without God we are nothing. With Him we are made complete, His people who are dependent on the Lord and on Love which rules our lives. Material wealth and possessions can be dangerous if we do not remember that God grants these gifts to us. People can fall away from God and become independent of Christ, which in essence is suicidal. The poor in spirit are those who rely on God and spiritual wealth which rules their lives and allows them to use material gain to benefit the society at large. We are called to this poverty to trust in our Lord and realize that we must live in communion and dependence with Him, as well as our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. The Gospel is very clear in saying, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these (other) things shall be added onto you." When the Holy Spirit is ruling our lives and we have dependence on God we cannot go wrong and we may have full confidence that the Lord will take care of our every need. Psalm 23 puts this message very clearly saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want." Material wealth and pleasure in this world will end, however a relationship with the Lord and the promise of Eternal life will last forever. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theres is the Kingdom of God."