Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit and Those Who Mourn

Matthew 5:1-4. Jesus therefore, seeing the crowd, went up into a mountain: and when he was seated, his disciples came unto him: 2. And he, having opened his mouth, taught them, saying, 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4. Blessed are those who mourn: for they will be comforted.

Luke 6:20-21. Then lifting up his eyes to his disciples, he said, Blessed are you who are poor: for the kingdom of God is yours. 21. Blessed are you who are now hungry: for you will be satisfied.

There is no doubt that the Evangelists did not on occasion want to note as a summary of the doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ: because they did not undertake to record every word: but it was enough for them to show in brief how our Lord Jesus Christ gathered his little church from the beginning, and what teachings he gave to his disciples. - It is said here that having retired into the mountain, and casting his eyes on the disciples, he showed them where the true blessedness of human beings lies. As for what Matthew expresses, which he opened his mouth, it is a way of speaking of the Hebrew language. It is true that he did not write in Hebrew, like. this can easily be judged: but however much they all wrote in Greek, they always retained the idiom of their native language. And we will see this in all other nations. For if a Frenchman or a German is not thoroughly trained in Latin, he will always have traits of what he learned in his childhood: and God willed that this should be so that we know the truth that this was not written by strange people: but by those who had been brought up in the country, who were plain and uneducated men, and who knew nothing more than their language, and what their mothers or nurses had taught them: that is to say who had not been to learned schools to pursue advanced studies. Thus it is as much as if it were said that our Lord Jesus Christ began to speak.

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Here then is a preface to indicate that he began to address his disciples on a subject which was very useful, and which also deserved to be diligently observed and retained. Because its intention is to show in what human beings ought to rest, and what they must seek above all. This question was much debated among the pagans: for this is the principal question that the Philosophers have discussed among themselves, namely, the highest good, as they call it: and it is as much as if it were said, The happiness of men. Now there is no one who does not desire to be happy: and even if unreasoning creatures could speak, and were capable of this felicity, they would say, Yes, it is only to be happy: and would aspire to that. The man therefore who feels his miseries and is troubled by them, must, on the contrary, know where his true good lies, and once he has discerned it, he strives toward that end as long as it is possible for him, to know how to be happy. Now those among the pagans who were more earthly, said only that we were blessed when there was no pain in us: the others, when we have all our pleasures and sensual delights: the others put happiness in virtue alone. And these spoke with greater refinement. For the name of virtue will always be held in honor: and even if the thing is despised, even the basest person will still be ashamed of not valuing what is more honorable than all. Others proceeded more subtly, and said that virtue in itself could not make us happy, but that to enjoy happiness, we governed ourselves as it was appropriate: and when virtue was joined with contentment, that such a condition was to bring supreme happiness. However, after all the arguments on either side, if "everyone still desires to be at ease: and we are so preoccupied with this imagination, that we always consider unhappy those who are afflicted with poverty and scarcity, or with illnesses, or who drag themselves painfully through this world, and who never have a day of health, or who are in reproach and disgrace, all the more that this is contrary to our nature. Because we will never be able to persuade ourselves otherwise, however, we will be governed by our natural reason and judgment: we will never be able to make ourselves believe that a man is happy, when he is beaten, tormented, and when he is despised, when he is plundered, and when he will only moan and sigh all the time of his life. In short, we cannot believe the happiness we desire, with disgrace, with poverty, with hunger and thirst, and all other afflictions.

Now let us look at what condition our Lord Jesus Christ calls us into his school, it is that we renounce ourselves, and that each one bears his cross. Now this word cross is as much as if it were said, that each person carries his own gallows, that we are there as poor people always having the knife on our throats,

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that we are afflicted and mocked, and that not only do we almost have death constantly before us, but that we are held in disgrace and slandered, that we are insulted, that people spit in our faces. We must feel this, and we must carry it valiantly like a burden that will be placed on our backs, as if a man had to walk, he will carry his package on his back. Thus, our Lord Jesus Christ clarifies to us that we cannot walk after him, and cannot also be among his number, unless each person takes up this burden. And what is it? It is not to enjoy our comforts: but on the contrary, it is that we are condemned as people, that death threatens us, that we are besieged from all sides, that our life is one continual languishing. Brief, as for this world, let us be held and deemed miserable. It is therefore the very alphabet, which is taught to us in the school of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now what would it be like if we remained in this imagination which is so imprinted in our brain, so much so that it is as though it were born in us, namely this opinion, that if we are thus afflicted in the world, that we cannot be happy. There is no one who would not flee and distance himself from our Lord Jesus Christ, and none of us would willingly be his disciple: even if his doctrine were approved, and we were convinced that he is the Son of God, and he who calls us to himself. If this were, we would still say, See, does he not know our weakness and our fragility? And why then does he not support us? In short, everyone would draw back when we remained in this opinion, which is (as I said) so rooted in us that we cannot count ourselves blessed if we were not at rest and at ease. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ preached this to his disciples, showing them that our blessedness does not consist in the world applauding us, in honors, riches, delights and pleasure. But on the contrary, even if we are oppressed to the end, if we are in continual tears, if we are persecuted, if we are apparently ruined, this does not make our condition worse, and does not lessen our happiness. How? Because we must consider the outcome. So where our Lord Jesus Christ takes us back to correct this false opinion with which we are possessed, and which so twists our minds that we cannot submit to its law, it is to know that we must look beyond the present, and look at what is the outcome of our afflictions, of our tears, and of the persecutions that are made to us, and of the sufferings that we have to endure. When we therefore see how God turns all these things to our good and salvation, then we will be able to conclude that we are still blessed even though it is our nature recoils from it.

But he begins with the poor in spirit. Some have have interpreted this too subtly, as if he were saying that the spiritually poor are those who despair of themselves, who know that they have no virtue, no wisdom, no righteousness.'

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Now it is true that this doctrine is good and sound: but it does not fit this passage. Luke does not use the word spirit: only he speaks of the poor. And in fact the Hebrews in their language have the same word, by which they mean a person humbled and brought low. And why? For prosperity fills us with pride and presumption: and this is why we want to be seen and want to maintain our pretensions: and on the contrary we forget all haughtiness, when God has beaten us down by affliction. So much so that afflictions tame us, this is why the word can signify both poverty and humility. We see this with regard to the body. For if a man is robust, and in the prime of his years, and he does not know that it is an illness, he becomes high-spirited, it is only a question of jumping, we cannot hold him: but if he has an illness of two or three months, he will move painfully, he will be completely changed, and instead of before he had indulged in every kind of excess, and had given himself over to intemperance, that nothing he was difficult, he will hardly be able to swallow a piece after having chewed it: he will not be able to drag himself out of bed, where he was only running before. And as we see it happening to the body, so it is to the soul. For when we have all our wishes, it is certain that our desires overflow: they are like foam upon the sea: there is nothing that can hold them back. And in short, we are puffed up, we are like drunks, who no longer know what it is to be restrained. But on the other hand, when God has put us in shame before men, and everyone has had his turn at mocking us, when we will be defamed, when we will have hatred, envy, grudges set up against us, when there will be false accusations and slanders imposed on us, when we will be poor and miserable without aid or relief.

in short, we are exercised by every form of adversity: then we will learn that it is modesty, and we lower the head which was previously too high raised. But especially since many do not fail to always nourish their pride, even though God strikes them with heavy blows, and gives them enough opportunity to humble themselves: especially, I say, that there are many as incorrigible, this is why it was necessary for our Lord Jesus Christ to say this word of the spirit. As if he said, Those who are poor are blessed: even on condition that poverty has tamed them, and that it has so profited in them, that their spirit is impoverished, that is to say that they do not have a proud or self-confident spirit, as many have. Because they are continually champing at the bit. We see wild beasts, when they are chained, or in some iron cage, they will not change their rage. We will hold many bears, wolves, and lions prisoners: but if they always remain as they were. So it is with men, however tightly our Lord Jesus restrains them, if they refuse

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and grind their teeth: and then their pride overflows more than ever: and God must also press them on the other side, so that we see the venom from which they die, which will come out. Not that this amends them: but they are made worse, and they must burst all restraint, and show their diabolical rage against God. This (say) is what we see in many. Is poverty of no use to them? No: but on the contrary, it is to make their condemnation before God still heavier. For they act contrary even to nature. It is no wonder if the great ones of this world, and "they who are so prized, and to whom we applaud, who have everything their heart desires, who are rich, who have their table well stocked, and brief, who have all desirable things: if these forget themselves, let them be intoxicated in their ease, and consequently let them glorify themselves and be puffed up with pride: but when a man is poor, that everyone is angry with him, that he bears many defamations, and that in short, he languishes in this world, and is as if half dead, if still he does not stop always taking pleasure and glorying in himself, that he always remains hard and stiff-necked, does he not fight against nature? So outward poverty is not enough. For there are many poor people who are not humiliated for this reason: but resist God as much as possible. Let us therefore note that poverty must penetrate our hearts, and that it must purge us of all pride and arrogance, and that we know that we are nothing. He therefore who is poor in his own estimation, that is to say who of his own free will humbles himself and attributes nothing to himself, and does not make himself believe in this or that, but is content to be stripped of worldly supports, this is the person Christ calls blessed. We now see what is the substance of these words, and we also see the benefit we must draw from them. Now we will ask if, on the contrary, those who are rich in spirit are cursed. And it is very certain that our Lord Jesus Christ intended the contrast to be understood. It is true that then afterwards he will say that blessed are those who are persecuted: and this does not mean, however, that it is necessary for all to be persecuted, otherwise we would have to be like these hypocrites who flatter themselves: but when he says, Blessed are those who are persecuted: it is because we do not flee from this persecution, when it pleases God that we should endure it, that we will be unjustly afflicted, that we bear everything in patience. But as for this passage, it is very certain that Jesus Christ wanted to make a comparison between the riches of spirit, that is to say this proud self-confidence where men deceive themselves when everything prospers with them, and between poverty of spirit, that is to say this humility, when man by affliction is truly brought low so as to no longer glorify himself, and to have nothing left except to resort to God.

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Here then in short is what we have to gather from this passage: that all those who are rich in spirit, that is to say who esteem themselves and bathe in their earthly delights, and who want to be something here, who attribute much to themselves because of their possessions and their nobility, their honors and credit: that all such people are under a curse and shut out from Jesus Christ, as it will be expressed then afterwards, and we will see him in his place.

So this is what we have to observe in short.

And we have already seen the reason why in the song of the Virgin Mary, when she said that God casts down the mighty and the kings of this world from their seats, and puts them to the ground, and that he raises up the little ones, and those who before were despised. If she had only said that, there would have been little argument, How then? Does God take pleasure in making such changes, to toss men about like a ball, or like a coin passed from hand to hand, or like dogs from which we can make the most of what we want: one will be worth twenty sous, and then a hundred, and then a thousand, and then it will be put in such a place that it will only be worth a single denier. If therefore God dealt with men in this way, it would seem to us to have some absurdity. For this cause the Virgin adds, that God fills the hungry, and may he send away all those who were full. It therefore shows the cause why God makes such changes in the world. For it is very difficult for a man who will have enough to feed himself, even in delights and pomp, when he will be honored by all, when everyone will applaud him, not come to become puffed up: as we also see the great ones of this world swollen with ambition. There will be such arrogance that they are like people who are drunk and almost dying: who when they have filled themselves with bread, wine, and meat, they are so full that they can hardly turn around. The virgin Mary therefore says, that inasmuch as men thus abuse the goods which God gives them, it is necessary that after having been drunk, they return empty, and that God teach them that it is to be thus emptied of their vanity: and on the contrary, that he satisfies those who are hungry. Now this word hunger here carries the sense of humility of spirit. There are indeed some who are hungry: but they have no appetite for any meat. But when a poor man, feeling his scarcity, has recourse to the one who can provide for it, and in all humility he asks humbly to be relieved, this is true poverty of spirit. So then, when we are poor in spirit or our afflictions, that is to say, we will feel our need and be driven to seek help from God: there lies our blessedness.

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Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ also says in the same sense, that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor. of spirit. In which it means that we must not be captivated by appearances: but always look at the end and the outcome. When the philosophers, who prize virtue above all else, wanted to show that afflictions do not make a man miserable, they had to have imagined a man hardened, as if he were an anvil, which the hammer could never soften. Now it was only a frivolous imagination and mere insensibility, when all is said: and even if there were some who had a good reputation before men, and who were considered very virtuous and constant, if there was only a kind of frenzy in them: for they were all full of rebellion against God. Their principle was, Well, I'm a mortal man, I have to endure it: I can't avoid that, so I have to go through it. Because they proposed necessity as their maxim: And what would be gained from resisting? I must therefore submit to what I cannot escape. This is (says) their patience, which is otherwise a fury, when one continues to be always rebellious against God. This is their constancy, which is rather a stubbornness. Because if they had little, they would have liked to retreat: but they had to sit down, especially since they had this opinion that everything was governed. by some blind destiny. Now then all such teaching was nothing but vanity: but our Lord Jesus Christ shows that it does not lead us into empty speculations which have no effect at all: but on the contrary, that it gives us a good foundation, on which if we lean, we will never be shaken: and how much that all the storms and whirlwinds of the world arise, and that it seems that heaven and earth must mix together, however much our blessedness will remain secure, provided that we look to the Kingdom of heaven. This is therefore what we have to remember here: namely, that in order to enjoy this happiness of which the Son of God speaks to us, we must first learn that the world is only a passage: that it is not our rest, that it is not here that we must seek our life: but that it suits us to press farther on, and raise our sights to the celestial heritage. And so, all those who are attached to this world, those who depend on their common opinion, and those who want to enjoy their happiness here, it is impossible for them to know that this doctrine is valid: so much so that they will always contradict this teaching. It is true that the faithful will not fail to have great struggles within themselves, when they think, How is it possible that I am very happy, and yet that I am condemned to be miserable? For this is what poverty of spirit entails: it is knowing that man is as though brought to despair, and that he is plunged into an abyss until God provides. Now there are severe inward conflicts here. For it does not seem that it is proper, that we can be happy, and yet we must be in

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anguish, that we must have our minds full of bitterness, and that after having groaned, we do not know what to say, except that the end is to conclude, Alas, if God had not pity on us, we are more than lost!

And so, when we have reasoned as well as we can according to the world, it is certain that we will always return there, Woe to us if we are poor, if we are hungry, if we are tormented. But when we know that God has put us in this world to test our obedience, and that we are only passing through it, that we have no settled rest there: but that we have an inheritance which is prepared for us in heaven: when therefore we can reach there, then we will conclude, There lies our blessedness which before was hidden from us. And this is also where Paul brings us back, when he shows that the faithful can glory in their afflictions: especially (he says) that affliction produces endurance and hope, and then having felt how merciful God is toward his own, we are all the more confirmed in hope, which does not put us to shame. After having dealt with this, he again expresses what I have just said: that the promise is made to us, and that if our salvation lies in hope, it must be hidden: for we do not hope for what we see: we will not say, I hope that my dinner will be prepared, when the table is set, and the meats are placed on it: but we hope for what is still unseen by our senses. So it is with our salvation. It is true that there is an invincible certainty in the truth of God: but it is a question here of the sight of our eyes, and of our apprehension. We must therefore not only be uncertain about it, but also know that we are far from it, and that we in no way understand it. If our salvation therefore lies in hope, it is hidden: and if it is. hidden, we must be blessed not by what we presently apprehend nor by the goods that we now have: but inasmuch as we groan here below, and wait for God to call us to Himself, and for us to be gathered by our Lord Jesus Christ who is our life and the fountain of all goods. So we now see what our practice must be is that we learn to meditate on the promises of eternal salvation which are contained in the word of God. Now these promises draw us away from the world: and it is as if God were holding out his hand to us, to say, Poor creatures, you are here plunged into the quagmire: when you follow your pleasures, when it is only a question of laughter, you think you are at the end of all happiness, and it is only a shadow that vanishes. So do not deceive yourselves any more: but learn where your good lies, and lift up your hearts to me. So this is how God's promises help us to withdraw from this world. And when we have passed the present things, then we will know that poverty, affliction, anguish, distress, and everything that is to reduce us to nothing, is not to worsen our condition: it is enough that God loves us, it is

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enough that his love is declared to us, and that by faith we apprehend it when we have to leave this world. So then let us walk, and finish our course, until the opportune time has come, when he brings his promises to fulfillment. It is true that in this world God still spares us so far, that he will make us taste a part of his goodness, and that he will give us something to rejoice in: but these consolations are brief: we must not rest satisfied with them. We must therefore always return to this point, that although God has pity on our infirmity, and that for this reason he does not treat us so harshly, but that he even nourishes us, and that he gives us more than nature still requires: how much, I say, let it be, if it is nevertheless that there are so many afflictions and miseries mixed among it, that we always have regrets, and that we will say, I am a wretched man: until we have learned to come straight to him. And for the rest, it teaches the same thing in the following sentence. For these are not different things: but it is good for us that this is reiterated to us, as though it were being chewed for us (by way of saying) so that we could swallow it more easily. Because it is a very doctrine difficult to digest, as everyone experiences in themselves.

And yet he says, that blessed are those who mourn, and that in the end they will rejoice, and will be consoled. He shows us the like that we already have. For if we are poor in spirit, we must also weep: that is to say, we must be distressed. For we are not without feeling, like those visionaries of whom I spoke, who would like man to show such constancy, as if he were an anvil or some rock. Now all these things are contrary to our nature: but we must feel our miseries, and they must bring us so low, so that we are broken and crushed, that we cannot lift our heads, that we cannot breathe (so to speak) that we are like poor people dying. This is why our Lord Jesus Christ here combines weeping with poverty of spirit. As if he were to say, When I say that your happiness is not diminished, although you are oppressed by many afflictions, it is not that I mean that you resist with such stupidity that you feel nothing, that you are there like blocks of wood without being moved by anything: no. You will cry (he says) you will feel the privation, the reproach, the illnesses, and everything that will make you languish in the world. You will feel it, and will be wounded to the heart, so much so that you will cry. But whatever happens, that will not prevent you from remaining blessed. And why? We must come to this conclusion: Wait for consolation from above. So it is not said that by weeping we are blessed because of our virtue, and that those who make tears come out of our eyes are tyrants, and wicked men who do us wrong. This is not to say that we should remain shut up within ourselves: that would be a very poor blessedness:

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because we would always be unhappy, when we had carefully examined what is in us. But when we know that God has promised to console us, provided that we cry to him in humility, that we seek him, that we are patient in obeying him: let us not doubt that in the end he will have pity on us, and that even all our afflictions will be so many profitable trials: - and then that they will be like goads to prick us, and to make us move forward in fulfilling our duty. When we know this, then our happiness will be certain and well known to us. And why? For we will seek it in God, and not in ourselves. And thus we see how different this doctrine of our Lord Jesus Christ is from everything that can be learned from the books and writings of the pagans, whatever wisdom they may have had in their times: that although they had a profound and eloquent minds, it was nevertheless nothing but smoke and deception: but what is shown to us by our Lord Jesus Christ, has a firmness which will never fade away. And why? We must look beyond ourselves first of all, and out of the world, and seek in God what we lack, and what we cannot find here below. This then is what we have to remember. Now it is true that there will be many who will cry: but their tears are like the howhng of brute beasts: as when a bull bellows, or an ox being slaughtered cries out: so it is with many people. And what is this? These are not real tears and yet this is what the unbelievers are like. For they will cry enough, and cry Alas, more and more: But what? They merely howl, like I said. So let us learn to lament to our God. Because this is also where our tears must be directed. And when we do so, we will feel what David says, Lord, you have put my tears into a phial. For just as we have precious fragrant water, or some precious ointment, so David says that God preserves our tears. It is true that they will fall to the ground, or we will wipe them from our hands: but when we cry before God, it is certain that not one will be lost: but that he will carefully preserve them all. And it is to bring us to this consolation of which he is here spoken. So we see how these two sentences all relate to one goal, which is to know that if we are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, even if we carry the cross, if we drag our gallows, if we are poor people condemned, if we are mocked, insulted and defamed, that nevertheless this will not prevent us from being always blessed, and from always having something to rejoice in. Now it remains to note what is said in S. Luke. S. Matthew says simply, Blessed are the poor in spirit, and those who weep: And it is expressed in S. Luke, Blessed are you who weep: and you who are poor are blessed. So then, let us not only understand this doctrine in general: but let us know that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to each of us, and that he wants us to enter into it, and that after having examined ourselves, we

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recognize that it is not without cause that he thus wanted to prepare all his own. This is how it is necessary for each one to appropriate the doctrine to himself, and for him to know that our Lord Jesus Christ speaks to him as if in secret: and that he says to him, It is necessary that if you are poor, that you be so in spirit, that you be truly humbled, - that you bear this self-abasement in your heart. And then we know that however much the world deems you miserable, and how much your natural sense tells you as much: however, you can boldly answer me Amen, and accept the beatitude that I propose to you: and you will see in the end that you have not been deceived, but that you will arrive at the inheritance, to which you will know how God gives joy to his children after afflicting them in the world: and how he fills them, after allowing them to hunger.

Now let us bow before the majesty of our good God, acknowledging our sins and seeking the consolation he has promised to those who mourn before him. Amen.

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