Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit

As a child, teenager, and young adult, I never understood this beatitude "Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit" from Matthew’s gospel, which is not the same as "Blessed are the Poor" from Luke's gospel. In my typical judgmental way, I thought the poor in spirit were miserably pathetic people who were lacking in spiritual maturity. And I couldn’t figure out what part of that could be called blessed.  Just recently, I started to read some of the early writings of Gustavo Gutierrez, and I realized that the poor in spirit might be understood better in contrast to the rich or wealthy in spirit; namely that they might actually be the people who refuse to use other people’s talents and labor for their own gain, who are not oppressive to the poor, who live materially simple lives, and who work for the liberation of those who are oppressed, mistreated and stuck in the cycle of poverty. Images came to mind from Les Miserables and Schindler's List. This was a real eye opener for me, and I immediately understood how blessed these people were.  I wanted to be one of them! This realization also brought to my mind some very interesting assertions made by Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed that entitlement programs for the poor can actually be a subtle form of oppression because they build a dependency rather than liberation.

How does this make a difference in how I live my life? If I am in a management position at my place of employment, this affects the way that I treat and think about my direct reports.  If I am an individual contributor, this affects how I treat and think about my peers, particularly from other departments in my company. If I am a homemaker, this affects how I treat and think about grocery clerks, postal workers, and contractors that I hire to help with skills that I don’t yet possess.

How does being poor in spirit synergize with the other virtues mentioned in this essay? If I don’t think a task to be below my status or station in life, then I am more likely to do it myself.  If I clean the toilet instead of hiring a housekeeper, then I have less need for a high income, the housekeeper won’t burn any fuel driving to my home, less polution will be generated by the lack of driving, etc. This housekeeper, if not able to find enough work doing housekeeping, might consider homemaking themselves, would not feel oppressed by doing a job that others consider beneath them, etc. I myself, in doing the manual labor to clean the toilet, have time while cleaning to think and pray, have done a small amount of excersize without having to own a treadmill, and I can focus on a small task and do it well.