Poor in Spirit

We are fast approaching the 'hour' and soon all will be transformed, as hinted by the transfiguration on the Mount. Easter will beckon us in its glory, but only after we have gone through the Cross...

Well, 'transformed' as one will be if one has been able to follow the deeper insights of what the forty days of Lent wants to help us dwelve into, especially this particular year when we are faced with such great turmoil from the economic crisis. It is a turmoil enough to make us want to cry out why have we been forsaken. It is a turmoil that forces us to recognise that the glamour of greed is never really good nor acceptable. It is a turmoil that reveals to us our failings and worldly excessiveness for which we need to be accountable for. It is a turmoil where we now need to seek forgiveness and pardon for. For us, the faithful, it is the pardon and forgiveness that we turn to God and to one another.

Looking at this turmoil, it is not so much about giving up or letting go our material possessions, but really an attitude about who God is for us and what have we done with the providence He has abundantly graced us with. A German Dominican mystic, Johannes Tauler (1300 - 1361), has accurately pointed out in one of his sermons for the 5th Saturday of Lent, that

... It is far easier to help and advise the simple, because they do admit their failings and one can give good counsel to those who consider themselves sinful and who live in fear and humility.

It is a question of how much we are willing to strip ourselves of self-love and self-will and be 'poor in spirit'. Much of the world's woes have been the result of our arrogance of doing much of whatever we want just because we can. Time now to step back and take a hard look at ourselves and learn to swallow the bitter pill of humility and let the grace of Easter envigorate us towards a better future where the virtues of faith, hope and charity truly reigns in our daily lives.