Matthew 5:3
The climb up the mountain with Jesus begins with a descent into the heart—and commitment to humility. To be poor in spirit is to be humble. Only those who take themselves low will be lifted high enough to inherit heaven. God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble. It’s hard to humble ourselves. We’ve been taught to stand tall, to take the lead, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to never let anybody push us around. Even in the Church we are sometimes encouraged to “claim our rights” as sons of the King—as if God owes us something other than the mercy which Jesus bought for us by His blood. In a religious environment focused on winning the blessings of earth, humility gets stuffed in a closet. Jesus said that He is “meek and lonely of heart,” and only by embracing those quantities can we find rest for our souls. No wonder we are called to be humble and poor and spirit, but this is who Christ Jesus is!
