27 February 2014 - fresh principle

27 February 2014 - fresh principle

This morning we are called to be poor in spirit.  To be poor in spirit means more than a platitude about being content with what we have.  We may be content with what we have and still be running our own show.  We may be content with what we have and still be overly stingy with it.  We risk keeping something back from the total offering of self which God asks of us.  We risk being like Ananias, who, sold property but "retained for himself, with his wife's knowledge, some of the purchase price" and "took the remainder, and put it at the feet of the apostles" (cf. Act. 5:1-6).  This is not how we are called to use our treasure.  It can be a serious problem.  If we claim to belong entirely to God but are still keeping the first fruits for ourselves we are lying with our lives.  Acts continues:

Why did you contrive this deed? You have lied not to human beings, but to God.” 
When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard of it.

Why do we hold back?  We are trying at self-preservation.  But how foolish is this?  Our anxiety can't add a single moment to our lives.  All the riches we store up may be snatched away in a moment as with the man who fills bigger and bigger barns with his excessive harvests (cf. Luk. 12:16-21).

Be not afraid when one becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases.
For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him.

We want to be free from this self-seeking so that we are free and able to give a cup of water to those who belong to Christ when they need it.  Serving Christ in others is the true reward and lasting wealth that we need to seek. 

Just as with Ananias in Acts we must be on guard against giving scandal by professing one thing and living another.  When our lives give lie to our words we risk causing little ones to sin.  And this scandal is no less serious than the scandal of Ananias.

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.

There is nothing more important than the Kingdom of God.  God wants all of his "little ones" to enter the kingdom, ourselves among them.  Our lives must be profoundly consistent with this priority.  No matter what extraneous things we have to sacrifice, it is better to let them go and enter into life then to be thrown into Gehenna with all of our treasures.

If we are truly poor in spirit we hold nothing back from God.  We give him all that we are.  Then the fires of worldly temptation only do us no harm but instead bring us greater and greater sanctity.  They become the "salt" that preserves us from the decay of the world.  If we are "salted with fire" we do not become insipid.  God calls us not only to endure trials but to emerge from them with freshness and flavor.  If we do we have no cause to fear the undying worm of Gehenna.  The poor in spirit and blessed indeed!