"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
We all remember the incidents, from the recent past, about the people who were caught in the investment scheme referred to as the Ponzie arrangements. Perhaps two of the most hated persons in the world at that time, at least in the investment circle, were Bernard Madoff of the US and Earl Jones of Canada. They swindled thousands of investors out of billions of dollars using this particular scheme.
I found it interesting to hear what these investors had to say about Madoff and Jones. They confessed that what was stolen from them was more than their money. What was stolen, as well, was their fundamental ability to trust any longer in another person. This deep rooted deception motivated by extreme self-centredness and greed of unimaginable proportion not only resulted in the loss of property but of a loss in faith and trust. This resulted in the birth of anger and resentment that will, for many, take years to deal with.
Deception! It has happened to each of at some point and to some degree. How do we deal with. Perhaps the path through the anger and mistrust of deception can be found in the beatitudes.
Beatitudes literally means happiness or blessedness. To experience life in its abundance, to experience blessedness for what has been given to us as gift, is a response of faith. Happiness or blessedness will never spring from fear of loss or harboring anger or deep rooted resentments. Jesus' way of happiness has little to do with exterior things and events --how much we have, how popular we are, how important our job -- but comes from a place within. It springs from a conversion of heart, an inner transformation which in Christian terms we describe as the work of the Holy Spirit.
How can one possibly find happiness and blessedness in poverty, hunger, meekness? In essence, if we want to be filled with happiness and blessedness, then we must empty ourselves of all that would shut out God's love from our hearts.
St. Paul in Colossians advises: Seek the things that are above. Set your minds on things that are from God, not on things that are on earth. You must get rid of all such things as anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive language. Do not lie to one another. Put to death whatever is earthy -- impurity, evil desires, greed.
I don't think, as St. Paul goes on to suggest, that God's anger and wrath will befall you if you don't. It's just that harboring these things prevent God's love from shining through. Anything that is contradictory to what God is all about only shuts out the very happiness and blessedness that we seek.
Do I experience this shutting out of God's Spirit from time to time? I sure do, and its mainly when I get caught up in my own ego and its needs. But blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happiness and blessedness flows to those who know they are spiritually poor because they have provided the space for God's joy to enter. To the heart that is humble, God reveals the true source of abundant life and happiness.
We who are victims, we who may have been deceived including the investors who lost so much on the ponzie schemes, we have a choice. Do we allow these events to create long lasting anger and resentment that shut out God's Spirit, or do we see that what is really important for our happiness and blessedness has very little to do with such things.
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