On the First Beatitude

439. What is the Lord's first precept of blessedness? They who would be blessed must be poor in spirit. 440. What is it to be poor in spirit? It is to have a spiritual conviction that we have nothing of our own, nothing but what God bestows upon us, and that we can do nothing good without God's help and grace, thus counting ourselves as nothing, and in all throwing ourselves upon the mercy of God; in brief, as St. Chrysostom explains it, spiritual poverty is humility. (Hom. in Matt. xv.) 441. Can the rich, too, be poor in spirit? Doubtless they can: if they consider that visible riches are corruptible and soon pass away, and can never compensate for the want of spiritual goods. What is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul for what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matt. xvi. 26. 442. May not bodily poverty serve to the perfection of spiritual? It may, if the Christian choose it voluntarily, for God's sake. Of this, Jesus Christ himself said to the rich man: If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me. Matt. xix. 21. 443. What does our Lord promise to the poor in spirit? The kingdom of heaven. 444. How is the kingdom of heaven theirs? In the present life inwardly, and inchoately,2 by faith and hope; but in the life to come perfectly, by their being made partakers of everlasting blessedness.