This morning's General Audience began at 9:15am local time (3:15am EST) inside the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. The Holy Father, Pope Francis met there with groups of pilgrims and the faithful from Italy and from every corner of the world.
In his speech, the Pope continued the new cycle of catechesis on the Beatitudes, adding his meditation on the first Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit (Mt 11:28-30).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
We are confronted today with the first of the eight Beatitudes of Matthew's Gospel. Jesus begins to proclaim his way to happiness with a paradoxical announcement: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3). Poverty is an amazing road, and a strange object of bliss.
We must ask ourselves: what is meant here by the word poor? If Matthew only used this word, then the meaning would be simply a matter of economics, that is, it would indicate people who have little or no means of support and need the help of others.
But the Gospel of Matthew, unlike that of Luke, uses the phrase poor in spirit. What does this mean? The spirit, according to the Bible, is the breath of life that God communicated to Adam; it is our most intimate dimension, let's say the spiritual dimension, the most intimate, that which makes us human persons, the deep core of our being. Then the poor in spirit are those who are and feel poor, that they are beggars, in the depths of their being. Jesus proclaims them to be blessed, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
How many times have we been told otherwise! You have to be something in life, to be someone ... You have to make a name for yourself ... This is where loneliness and unhappiness come from: if I have to be someone, I compete with others and live in obsessive concern for my ego. If I don't accept being poor, I hate everything that reminds me of my fragility. Because this fragility prevents me from becoming an important person, rich not only in money, but fame, rich in every way.
In his own eyes, everyone is well aware that, however hard he tries, he is always radically incomplete and vulnerable. There is no trick that covers this vulnerability. Each of us is vulnerable inside. It is a matter of knowing where these vulnerabilities lie. But how badly you live if you refuse to recognize your limits! You live badly. The limit is not digested, it remains there. Proud people don't ask for help, they can't ask for help, they don't ask for help because they have to prove themselves to be self-sufficient. And yet many of them need help, but pride prevents them from asking for help. And how difficult it is to admit a mistake, to ask for forgiveness! When I give some advice to newlyweds, who tell me how to carry out their marriage well, I say to them: There are three magic words: please, thank you and I'm sorry. These are words that come from poverty of spirit. It is not necessary to be intrusive, but to ask permission: Does it seem good to do this?, and the result is that there is dialogue in the family, the bride and groom are in dialogue. You did this for me, thank you I needed it. Then you always make mistakes, you slip: Excuse me. And usually, couples, newlyweds, those who are here and many others, tell me: The third is the most difficult, apologize, ask for forgiveness. Because those who are proud can't do it. They cannot apologize: they are always right. They are not poor in spirit. Instead the Lord never tires of forgiving; unfortunately it is we who tire of asking for forgiveness (cf Angelus, March 17, 2013). Being tired of asking for forgiveness: this is a bad disease!
Why is it difficult to ask for forgiveness? Because it humiliates our hypocritical image. Still, living trying to hide one's shortcomings is tiring and distressing. Jesus Christ tells us: being poor is an opportunity for grace; and he shows us the way out of this effort. We are given the right to be poor in spirit, because this is the way of the Kingdom of God.
But there is one fundamental thing to reiterate: we must not transform ourselves to become poor in spirit, we must not make any transformation because we already are! We are poor ... or more clearly: we are poor in spirit! We need everything. We are all poor in spirit, we are beggars. This is the human condition.
The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. There are those who have the kingdoms of this world: they have goods and they have comforts. But these are realms that have a defined end. The power of men, even the greatest of empires, pass away and disappear. Many times we see in the news or in the newspapers that a strong, powerful ruler or a government that was there yesterday and no longer exists today has fallen. The riches of this world are gone, and the money too. The old men taught us that the shroud has no pockets. It's true. I have never seen a moving truck behind a funeral procession: nobody brings anything. These riches remain here.
The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. There are those who have the kingdoms of this world: they have goods and they have comforts. But we know how that always ends. Those who know how to love the true good more than themselves truly reign. And that's the power of God.
In what way did Christ show power? Because he was able to do what the kings of the earth do not do: give life for mankind. And this is true power. The power of brotherhood, the power of charity, the power of love, the power of humility. This is what Christ did.
This is true freedom: whoever has this power of humility, service, brotherhood is free. At the service of this freedom is the poverty praised by the Beatitudes.
Because there is a poverty that we must accept, that of our being, and a poverty that we must seek, concrete poverty from the things of this world in order to be free and to be able to love. We must always seek the freedom of the heart, that which has its roots in the poverty of ourselves.
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages and His Holiness offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking visitors, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially the groups from England, Australia, Vietnam and the United States of America. Upon all of you and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you!
In his speech, the Pope continued the new cycle of catechesis on the Beatitudes, adding his meditation on the first Beatitude: Blessed are the poor in spirit (Mt 11:28-30).
After having summarized his catechesis in various languages, the Holy Father offered particular greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance.
The General Audience concluded with the chanting of the Pater Noster and the Apostolic blessing.
Catechesis of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the General Audience
Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!
We are confronted today with the first of the eight Beatitudes of Matthew's Gospel. Jesus begins to proclaim his way to happiness with a paradoxical announcement: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3). Poverty is an amazing road, and a strange object of bliss.
We must ask ourselves: what is meant here by the word poor? If Matthew only used this word, then the meaning would be simply a matter of economics, that is, it would indicate people who have little or no means of support and need the help of others.
But the Gospel of Matthew, unlike that of Luke, uses the phrase poor in spirit. What does this mean? The spirit, according to the Bible, is the breath of life that God communicated to Adam; it is our most intimate dimension, let's say the spiritual dimension, the most intimate, that which makes us human persons, the deep core of our being. Then the poor in spirit are those who are and feel poor, that they are beggars, in the depths of their being. Jesus proclaims them to be blessed, because the Kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
How many times have we been told otherwise! You have to be something in life, to be someone ... You have to make a name for yourself ... This is where loneliness and unhappiness come from: if I have to be someone, I compete with others and live in obsessive concern for my ego. If I don't accept being poor, I hate everything that reminds me of my fragility. Because this fragility prevents me from becoming an important person, rich not only in money, but fame, rich in every way.
In his own eyes, everyone is well aware that, however hard he tries, he is always radically incomplete and vulnerable. There is no trick that covers this vulnerability. Each of us is vulnerable inside. It is a matter of knowing where these vulnerabilities lie. But how badly you live if you refuse to recognize your limits! You live badly. The limit is not digested, it remains there. Proud people don't ask for help, they can't ask for help, they don't ask for help because they have to prove themselves to be self-sufficient. And yet many of them need help, but pride prevents them from asking for help. And how difficult it is to admit a mistake, to ask for forgiveness! When I give some advice to newlyweds, who tell me how to carry out their marriage well, I say to them: There are three magic words: please, thank you and I'm sorry. These are words that come from poverty of spirit. It is not necessary to be intrusive, but to ask permission: Does it seem good to do this?, and the result is that there is dialogue in the family, the bride and groom are in dialogue. You did this for me, thank you I needed it. Then you always make mistakes, you slip: Excuse me. And usually, couples, newlyweds, those who are here and many others, tell me: The third is the most difficult, apologize, ask for forgiveness. Because those who are proud can't do it. They cannot apologize: they are always right. They are not poor in spirit. Instead the Lord never tires of forgiving; unfortunately it is we who tire of asking for forgiveness (cf Angelus, March 17, 2013). Being tired of asking for forgiveness: this is a bad disease!
Why is it difficult to ask for forgiveness? Because it humiliates our hypocritical image. Still, living trying to hide one's shortcomings is tiring and distressing. Jesus Christ tells us: being poor is an opportunity for grace; and he shows us the way out of this effort. We are given the right to be poor in spirit, because this is the way of the Kingdom of God.
But there is one fundamental thing to reiterate: we must not transform ourselves to become poor in spirit, we must not make any transformation because we already are! We are poor ... or more clearly: we are poor in spirit! We need everything. We are all poor in spirit, we are beggars. This is the human condition.
The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. There are those who have the kingdoms of this world: they have goods and they have comforts. But these are realms that have a defined end. The power of men, even the greatest of empires, pass away and disappear. Many times we see in the news or in the newspapers that a strong, powerful ruler or a government that was there yesterday and no longer exists today has fallen. The riches of this world are gone, and the money too. The old men taught us that the shroud has no pockets. It's true. I have never seen a moving truck behind a funeral procession: nobody brings anything. These riches remain here.
The Kingdom of God belongs to the poor in spirit. There are those who have the kingdoms of this world: they have goods and they have comforts. But we know how that always ends. Those who know how to love the true good more than themselves truly reign. And that's the power of God.
In what way did Christ show power? Because he was able to do what the kings of the earth do not do: give life for mankind. And this is true power. The power of brotherhood, the power of charity, the power of love, the power of humility. This is what Christ did.
This is true freedom: whoever has this power of humility, service, brotherhood is free. At the service of this freedom is the poverty praised by the Beatitudes.
Because there is a poverty that we must accept, that of our being, and a poverty that we must seek, concrete poverty from the things of this world in order to be free and to be able to love. We must always seek the freedom of the heart, that which has its roots in the poverty of ourselves.
Testo originale nella lingua italiana
The Holy Father's catechesis was then summarized in various languages and His Holiness offered greetings to each group of the faithful in attendance. To English-speaking visitors, he said:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, especially the groups from England, Australia, Vietnam and the United States of America. Upon all of you and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless you!
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