Episode Transcript  

One

The Tragedy of Pride and Self-Reliance

Tony Stark is the perfect image of the self-made man. Brilliant. Driven. Respected. He builds the future with his own hands. He saves cities with his inventions. He even makes himself a new heart. He doesn’t ask for help. He doesn’t trust anyone. He’s built an armor around his body—and around his soul.

That’s what pride does. It makes us believe that everything depends on us. It blocks love. It shuts the door to grace. Because you can’t receive what you think you already have.

But pride has another face, one far more familiar.

It’s the exhausted parent, the overwhelmed student, the anxious owner of a business or practice lying awake at night, trying to hold everything together because deep down they believe everything depends on them. It’s the same lie, “It’s all up to me.”

This, too, is pride. Because all pride is a radical self-reliance that forgets that God is God and I am not God. That’s why Jesus begins His Sermon with these words, “Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Because the Poor in Spirit remember that they can only do what is in their power. They leave everything beyond their power to God.

Two

The Poor in Spirit Know They Possess Nothing

What does it mean to be poor in Spirit?

Somebody is poor if they don’t own very much, if they don’t have very much they think of as belonging to them. Someone is Poor in Spirit if they realize they don’t own anything at all. Nothing belongs to them. Everything they have is a gift from God. 

Someone is Poor in Spirit if they are humble. And that is what enables them to receive the Kingdom of Heaven, because that is what enables them to receive everything God wants to give them. 

Three

Every Good Thing We Have Is a Gift

Nothing we have in this life was something we had a right to. Everything we have in this life is something given to us by God.

We had no right to exist. God just gave it to us. We had no right to be redeemed by the blood of Christ. God just gave it to us. We had no right to the fullness of faith, God just gave it to us. We have no right to our health, to our families, to our talents. God gave us that too. 

We had no right to the energy and the initiative and insight that were necessary for us to develop our talents, or live virtuously, or do well at work. God just gave us that energy and initiative and insight and he gave us all the things that resulted from the effort that He also gave us. 

Do you see? Nothing good about us, not our successes, not our virtues, not our relationships, not our energy or our insights, none of that originates from us. It all originates from God. 

The best thing we can say about ourselves is just that we didn’t throw away God’s gifts. But the goodness itself, it all comes from Him. And the more we realize that, the more we realize that He, not us, is the source of all goodness, the more we will turn to Him and the more we will receive from Him.

But as soon as we think or act as though everything depends on us, the less we will turn to God, the less we will receive from Him and the more we will look to ourselves, who can’t even exist, let alone do anything worthwhile, on our own, the emptier we will become. And then we won’t be poor in spirit, we’ll be empty in reality. Which is hell.

So whatever you do, figure out when you tend to congratulate yourself, and when you tend to panic by holding the weight of the world and stop it. Rather, follow St. Paul’s example, when he says, “I will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell with me.” (II Cor 12:9). 

Make yourself poor in Spirit, that you may receive the kingdom of God.

Four

The Goods You Don’t Have You Don’t Deserve

Someone who is Poor in Spirit recognizes that everything good he has is an underserved gift from God. Someone who is Poor in Spirit doesn’t think he deserves more. Being Poor in Spirit is the opposite of an entitlement mindset. You recognize that you don’t even deserve to exist, let alone have anything more than existence.

If you’re really poor in Spirit, you’ll never be outraged that you don’t have more possessions, more honor, more beauty, more talent. Why should you? You’re a sinner who could just as easily not exist, and yet, amazingly, you wind up a creature beloved by God and destined for glory. That’s infinitely more than any of us deserve, and yet we all have it.

So here’s something else to watch for. Someone who is Poor in Spirit doesn’t think he is a self-made man, because he knows everything good he has and everything good about him comes from Someone else.

And someone who is Poor in Spirit also doesn’t complain, because he knows he’s already getting more than he deserves, and so he doesn’t feel entitled to a better situation than he has.

So don’t complain. Be grateful for what you have, and you will be given so much more.

Five

The Kingdom of Heaven

We began with two faces of pride: the overconfident achiever and the overwhelmed striver. One thinks he has everything under control. The other is crushed trying to hold it all together. But both are driven by the same illusion, “It all depends on me.”

The poor in spirit know the truth. They know they are not God. They know they are not the source of their life, their goodness, or their future. They know they can’t control everything. And so, they let go.

To be poor in spirit is to be humble and humility means this: Know what you can control. Do what you can control. Know what is beyond your control. Let God take care of that. 

That’s the heart of poverty of spirit: Doing what you can and giving everything else to God.

Suggested Resolutions:

Choose one resolution for today to help you grow closer to God, or create your own. Here are some ideas to inspire you. 

• Give up complaining for the week, and remember each time that you feel the need to complain, that everything you have is just a gift, none of it is deserved.

• Spend more time in thanksgiving for the things God has given you, especially in spending extra time after Mass, sitting in His presence and thanking Him for everything.

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