Poverty of the spirit is the meeting point

September 30, 2007 -- 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Bishop Robert Morneau

	Bishop Robert Morneau
	Questions for reflection: 1. What is your experience of being "radically indigent"? 2. Where is the meeting place between God and the human spirit? 3. Who are the poor people you minister to?

Every couple of years, I drift back to rereading a work by Johanes Baptist Metz entitled Poverty of Spirit (New York: Paulist Press, 1968). It is a study of what is involved in becoming human and offers a raw and challenging look at our innate poverty. Poverty of Spirit is basically about the "wanton revelry" that Amos the prophet condemns in the first reading; it is about the pursuit of "faith, love, patience, and gentleness" that St. Paul urges upon Timothy; it is about the contrast between the rich and poor man in the Gospel parable for this Sunday.

Metz writes: "Only through poverty of spirit do men draw near to God; only through it does God draw near to man. Poverty of spirit is the meeting point of heaven and earth, the mysterious place where God and man encounter each other, the point where infinite mystery meets concrete existence" (26).

The concern of Amos (and of all the prophets) is that we humans tend to fill up with whatever - rich wine, delicate foods, a vast wardrobe - thus denying space in our soul for divine presence. People who live poverty of spirit create empty space and wait upon the coming of the Lord. That emptiness, at first so painful, makes possible the divine visitation. "Wanton revelry" involves too much noise and too much satiation rendering the encounter between God and the soul unlikely.

Metz writes: "The radical indigence of our humanity has something repulsive about it. It devastates man, tears down self-created defenses and jars him out of the familiar, routine horizon of everyday life" (30).

St. Paul experienced his "radical indigence" and knew that his richness lay in his relationship in Christ. Thus he urges upon Timothy and the Christian community a life of faith - that we truly believe that God's love and mercy are our deepest riches. He urges us to a life of love, a love that forces us out of our narcissism and comfort zones. He urges upon us patience with our poverty and gentleness that refuses to deny our innate poverty. St. Paul is speaking here about the gift of the Holy Spirit, the great gift that Jesus left His disciples. By accepting our radical indigence we open the door to the reception of the gift of God's Spirit.

Metz writes: "Our human brother now becomes a 'sacrament' of God's hidden presence among us, a mediator between God and man. Every authentic religious act is directed toward the concreteness of God in our human brother and his world" (35).

The rich man in the Gospel, "dressed in purple garments and fine linen and [who] dined sumptuously each day" failed to attend to poor, ill Lazarus. The rich man failed to attend to the mystery of God revealed to him through this sick, hungry person. Even Moses and the prophets, were they sent, could not awaken the rich man to his plight. The rich man lacked poverty of spirit and suffered the consequences.

The first beatitude speaks of those who are poor in spirit and we all know the message: theirs is the kingdom of God!

(Bp. Morneau is the auxiliary bishop of the Green Bay Diocese and pastor of Resurrection Parish in Allouez.)