Kings and Queens

Connecting poverty of spirit and richness in grace

01/31/2023

Mt 5:1-12a When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him. He began to teach them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven."

This past Friday Bishop Taylor assigned a new priest to I.C. and we warmly welcomed another Indian priest as our associate pastor. So, now there will be three Indian priests serving in Fort Smith. The Indians are taking over the Fort! The new priest’s name is Fr. Nalazala, and our current associate priest’s name is Fr. Bala.

So, I have decided to change my name to Fr. Jala, so our names can all rhyme like some parents do to torture their poor children by making their names rhyme. To be totally honest, though, you cannot really call me a true Indian priest because the only thing Indian left about me is this deep island tan. Otherwise, I’m just a Gringo, like all of ya’ll.

As Fr. Nalazala and I were talking Friday evening he told me something very surprising about his home diocese. He said that his home diocese of Nellore has so many young men who want to become priests that the bishop is limiting how many can enter the seminary. What a great problem to have! Why would he do such a thing? Well, because once they are ordained there are not enough parishes to assign them in the diocese. And that is why we now have two Indian priests in our parish. You see, Arkansas has the opposite problem: we have lots of parishes and not so many priests.

But I believe this seesaw scenario of priests and parishes also touches on the deeper truth that Jesus teaches in the gospel today. Our Lord’s very first beatitude to begin his magnificent Sermon on the Mount is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven.” In other words, there is an intimate connection, a tight correlation, between poverty of spirit on the one hand, and richness in grace on the other hand, or as Jesus says, “an inheritance.”

I am convinced that when we are detached from earthly goods, we are freer to be attached to heavenly goods. We can more readily see the infinite value of God’s grace. That is at least one reason why there are so many priestly and religious vocations in India, where there is so much material poverty. Could that same dynamic also explain why here in a wealthy country like the United States we have fewer vocations? We sadly overvalue material things and sometimes undervalue spiritual things. Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. And they shall inherit the parish of Immaculate Conception, too!

Now, I want to clarify one point so we do not jump to conclusions or misunderstand what Jesus really means by the first beatitude. Notice our Lord says “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and the key word in that phrase is “spirit.” That is, it is the spirit, the soul, the human heart, the inner man, that should be poor. If you carefully study the long history of the Church, you will discover that we have had many kings and queens who were great saints and obviously they were very wealthy as well.

Consider St. Louis IX, the king of France, or St. Margaret, the queen of Scotland. They did not abdicate their thrones nor did they sell all their property to become great saints. Why not? Well, they knew that what Jesus meant by being “poor in spirit’ was to be detached from worldly wealthy, to keep things at arm’s length sort of say, and to be more attached to heavenly things.

How did they practice poverty of spirit? They used their royal influence and their material resources to help the Church. They built cathedrals, convents, hospitals, schools, orphanages, and seminaries. In other words, even kings and queens can be “poor in spirit" and still inherit the kingdom of heaven.

This Sunday we kick off Catholic Schools Week, and we give God thanks for our great Catholic schools. One of the reasons we have such a strong and vibrant Catholic school here at Immaculate Conception is because our parishioners live the first beatitude. We are not a church filled with kings and queens, but we do have a lot of people who are poor in spirit and give very generously to support the church and school.

And where did these parishioners learn to be poor in spirit? Many of them also attended a Catholic school themselves. In other words, the reason Catholic schools exist is to teach our students the true meaning of the first beatitude: blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. You may have heard that our principal, Sharon Blentlinger, will be retiring at the end of the school year, on July 31. Sharon is a really talented leader for our school, and for 37 years as principal she embodied the first beatitude. We will miss you, Mrs. B! We will begin a search for a new principal immediately.

My friends, there is a crucial reason Jesus mentioned being poor in spirit as the first of his beatitudes. Why? It is the necessary condition, the sine que non, the key that unlocks the door, to the other seven beatitudes. Only those who are poor in spirit can truly mourn, and be meek, and merciful. Only the poor in spirit are pure in heart, and peacemakers, and endure persecutions. Only the poor in spirit, in other words, can be truly detached from earthly things so as to be fully attached to heavenly things. The first beatitude is the heartbeat of all the beatitudes. That’s what I learned talking to Fr. Nalazala.

Praised be Jesus Christ!