Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3
“Let us have no resource but in God, so that we may be poor in spirit, of whom it is added: ‘I will satisfy her poor with bread’ [Psalm 132:15]. On the other hand, the Apostle [Paul] says of the rich: ‘Charge the rich of this world not to be proud, or to trust in the uncertainty of their riches, but in the living God’ [1 Timothy 6:17].” What, then, should they do with their riches? That follows: ‘Let them be rich in good works, giving readily, sharing with others, and thus providing for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, in order that they may lay hold of the true life’ [1 Timothy 6:18-19]. As long as they do not seize the true life, they are poor; as soon as they do, they will be rich…
Blessed Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, even Joseph, David, and many other saints of the Old Testament were rich, and their riches did not harm them. In the New Testament, too, Zachaeus was rich, as well as Cornelius a centurion; also wealthy was that other centurion of whom the Lord said: ‘I have not found so great a faith in Israel’ [Matthew 8:10]. Although these men were rich, they deserved to be counted among God’s poor and blessed and to receive eternal happiness, because they did not place their hopes in their riches but in the living God.”
Caesarius of Arles (c. 470-542), bishop, in Sermon 49 “How the Widows, Orphans, and the Poor in Scripture are to be Interpreted.”
Every Memorial Day I look for meditations that remember the lives of the saints who have gone before us and grasped our role to serve as generous conduits of God’s rich blessings. Caesarius of Arles celebrates an all star cast of them in this sermon excerpt. They are real people who did not place their hopes in their riches but in the living God: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Zachaeus, and Cornelius. Let us not only remember them, let us join them in being poor in spirit, and in so doing, we seize the true life!