Regardless of our own financial situation, we all can be poor in spirit. Being poor in spirit means realizing that God owns everything. We personally own no more than the beggar on the street. No matter what financial and material riches we may have accumulated in this life, if we are poor in spirit we claim no credit for what we have acquired. We see everything as a gift from God, entrusted to us for both our benefit and the benefit of the world.
We know we are not entitled to an overabundance while others live with crippling scarcity. We hear the call to share our gifts with those who do not have what they need. We are willing to give up some luxuries so we can share more with the poor of the world. We live in solidarity with them. As one family in Christ, he asks no more of us than that.
—from Franciscan Spirit’s “Learning to Live Simply“
by Sue Erschen
