Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Matthew 19:21
“Poverty is not always praiseworthy, but only when it represents a free choice according to the Gospel commandment.
Many are poor in possessions and very miserly in spirit, and those people will not be saved through the poverty but damned by their attitude of mind.
Not every poor person therefore is worthy of praise but only those who of their own choice put the commandment of the Lord before all the treasures of the world.
Those people the Lord says are blessed when He proclaims: “Blessed are the power in Spirit” [Matthew 5:3]. He does not say the poor in possessions but those who have freely chosen poverty in spirit.
What is involuntary cannot merit blessedness. Every virtue, and poverty in spirit more than any other, must be a free choice. The same argument applies to Christ. In His own nature He is rich.
Everything that the Father has is His. But “For your sake He became poor, so that by His poverty, you might become rich” [2 Corinthians 8:9].
Moreover anything that can lead us to blessedness has been experienced by the Lord first. Reflect on the beatitudes, analyze them one by one, and you will realize that the theoretical teaching in them is drawn from practical experience.”
Basil of Caesarea in On Psalm 33 (PG31, 561) in Drinking from the Hidden Fountain: A Patristic Breviary, Ancient Wisdom for Today’s World, ed. by Thomas Spidlik (Kalamazoo: Cistercian, 1994) 305-306.
What are you doing with the Gospel commandment?
Letting go of things is a choice. It’s not easy, but our Lord modeled the way for us that it can lead us to blessedness. Whatever we hold onto gets a hold onto us. So, the command is actually an invitation to the same blessedness that Christ experienced.
But why is it so hard for us and how does it relate to generosity?
Most of the time, we think of generosity in terms of sharing our surplus rather than making sacrifices and putting the needs of others ahead of our own. When we do it, however, we discover the blessing therein. God takes care of us as we take care of others.
It’s a choice that leads to blessedness.