Blessed are the poor in spirit

In today’s Gospel,  Mt. 5: 1-12, Jesus ascends the mountain, sits down and begins to teach his disciples:

               Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven….

 I stopped with that first Beatitude and asked myself: “What does that truly mean?”  The inspiration that came forth was the following:

Blessed are those who recognize God as God,

who believe in and rely upon a Power greater than themselves,
who do not lord themselves over others,
who are respectful of the Spirit at work in themselves and others,
who are humble of heart,
who are merciful and compassionate toward weakness in themselves and others,
who are interdependent upon God and others,
who repent of their sinfulness,
who are forgiving of themselves and others,
who seek justice and truth and rely on God to open their eyes to injustice and deceitfulness and inflame their hearts and wills to address wrongs.

And the Lord says:  “Blessed are you,   insert your name,  when you assume these attitudes and do these things through the grace and peace of God your Father and your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”

As I reflected upon that rethinking of what it means to be poor in spirit, I needed to admit that when I do those things and assume those attitudes, I do taste a little bit of heaven here on earth! And when the opposite is true of me, I create a little bit of hell on earth! I then make life miserable for myself and others.  Lord, have mercy on me when I do those things and assume those attitudes; set me right in your eyes.