Poor in Spirit

Louisa Ikena reflects on countercultural humility in the form of being poor in spirit.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)

Lord, help me to be poor in spirit. That is a prayer I pray routinely. But it is one thing to pray those words and another to sincerely mean those words. For me, those words are similar to the Biblical prayer, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” (see Mark 9:24). I acknowledge that I have both belief and unbelief at the same time. Lo and behold, I am not perfect, and I do not have to be. I strongly believe Our Lord does not look at my marks on a report card or at items on a resume. Instead, Our Lord looks at my availability and willingness to do His Will.

Being poor in spirit directly relates to humility. If my spirit is full of “self” or rich in spirit, I leave little, if any, room for His Holy Spirit. Humility lessons are not fun or pleasant lessons to learn. Yet I find that without them my spiritual life is very superficial and shallow. I think about the seven deadly sins, specifically in the light of spiritual sickness we call sin. It is easy for me to have spiritual greed, spiritual envy, spiritual lustful, spiritual anger, spiritual avarice, spiritual sloth, and especially spiritual pride. The phenomenon of wanting more and more and more now can be conveniently couched in a spiritual context, yet still result in the same deadly effect on my soul.

It is totally counter-cultural to aim to be poor in spirit. The culture would tell me to acquire, acquire, acquire. The culture would tell me to strive, strive, strive. The culture would tell me to do, do, do. The catch, I find, is to continue to strive for what is excellent, keeping my standards elevated, without keeping my ego elevated. It is a balance I continue to strive for. Humility includes truly acknowledging what is and giving credit where credit is due. Pride tries to take credit and glory where God alone deserves the Glory.

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I think of being poor in spirit as being approachable and joyful. I think of living life centered around Christ. When I center my life around Jesus, everything else in my life falls into place. Everything falls into its right place. Joy, inevitably, flowed out of my heart and out of my life. This joy is a state that transcends emotion. I know I can be in a state of joy, even in grief. I can joyfully surrender to Our Lord’s Will even when doing so is difficult and unpleasant.

I used to immaturely say, “Do not ask for patience and humility. God will give me trials of impatience and pride.” Now I strive to say, “Lord, please remove from my heart anything that is not of You. Please increase every virtue in me that I need to do Your Will. Please increase my faith, my patience, and my humility. Whatever it takes, Lord. I trust in You.” I ask for God to remove in me anything that is blocking a closer relationship with Him.

Lord, please increase what is good in me and decrease what is not. Now, sincerely, I pray, Lord, help me to be poor in spirit.

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