Why the Saints made Heaven

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3).

I have tried to reflect on some verses of the beatitudes for some weeks now because its meanings are becoming deeper for me every time that I read the scriptures. The sermon on the mount as it is equally called serves as some form of “manifesto” by Christ to his disciples and later on taken very literally by some of the mystics of the early church, fathers of the church and many who have opted to follow His teaching.

The Catholic tradition is very rich with the teaching of saints on the beatitudes. For example; Saint Augustine on this beatitude said: “Humility is the foundation of all the other virtues hence, in the soul in which this virtue does not exist there cannot be any other virtue except in mere appearance” In addition St. Vincent de Paul said: If humble souls are contradicted, they remain calm; if they are calumniated, they suffer with patience; if they are little esteemed, neglected, or forgotten, they consider that their due; if they are weighed down with occupations, they perform them cheerfully. Furthermore, I find this comment by saint Thomas Aquinas more interesting: “Speaking absolutely, humility excels virginity”.

In the spirit of ecumenism, I tried to look out for some non-Catholic authorities on this teaching and I came across an answer given to a woman by Pastor Billy Graham, who asked: What does it mean to be poor in spirit, as Jesus said we ought to be? I don’t understand this, because it seems to me that we ought to strive to be rich in spirit, not poor. Or am I missing the point? The woman asked. “Your confusion is understandable”; Billy Graham said, “after all, the Bible does warn us against being empty and impoverished in our souls, and urges us to seek spiritual riches instead. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). What did He mean? Simply this: We must be humble in our spirits. If you put the word “humble” in place of the word “poor,” you will understand what He meant. In other words, when we come to God, we must realize our own sin and our spiritual emptiness and poverty. We must not be self-satisfied or proud in our hearts, thinking we don’t really need God. If we are, God cannot bless us. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6).

William Barclay explained this further in his analysis of the metamorphoses of the word poor both in Hebrew and Greek. In Hebrew, the word is ’ani or ebion. This word in Hebrew underwent a four-stage development of meaning. (1) They began by meaning simply poor. (2) They went to mean, because poor, therefore having no influence or power, or help, or prestige. (3) They went to mean, because having no influence, therefore downtrodden and oppressed. (4) Finally, they came to describe those who, because they have no earthly resources, whatever, put their whole trust in God. So in Hebrew the word poor was used to describe the humble and the helpless people who put their whole trust in God. It is thus the Psalmist uses the word, when he writes: this Poor soul cried, and was heard by the Lord, and was save from every trouble. (Psalm 34:6). I will satisfy its poor with bread (Psalm 132: 15). And many other instances, the poor are the humble and helpless who have put their trust in God.

While the poor puts his trust and enjoys the peace and the blessedness that come from God. The proud experiences the reverse, sometimes utter destruction. At the international scene; the 21st century is remarkable for mind blowing scientific achievement, from the moment Neil Armstrong landed on the moon fifty years ago, space technology and astronomy have taken man to an unprecedented research into the possibility of life and existence in other planets notably Mars. Communication and information technology are at the speed of light and most probably at its peak in our time. This scientific and technological achievement which is supposed to serve man has become the master and the divine of man. Bishop Robert Baron in a remarkable response to Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York titled: Governor Cuomo and God’s Noncompetitive Transcendence. Published on the 21st of April 2020, Bishop Baron began by quoting Governor Cuomo in their efforts to fight COVID 19 and he made a rather interesting theological observation. Commenting on the progress that his state has made in fighting the coronavirus; praising the concrete efforts of medical personnel and ordinary citizens, he said, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.” These words will represent the almost normal mindset of the man of the 21st century. Science and human efforts are regarded as alpha et omega.

Bishop Baron summarizes Cuomo’s theses this way: “What I will do instead is explain the basic intellectual confusion that undergirds Cuomo’s assertion, one that, I fear, is shared even by many believers. The condition for the possibility of the governor’s declaration is the assumption that God is one competitive cause among many, one actor jostling for position and time upon the stage with a coterie of other actors. On this reading, God does certain things—usually of a rather spectacular nature—and creaturely causes do other things, usually more mundane. Thus, we can clearly parcel out responsibility and credit—some to God and some to finite agents. But this account is deeply unbiblical and alien to the Catholic theological tradition”. Its deeply troubling for a soul to get to a stage of putting human efforts and Divine assistance as one single reality.

Spiritual poverty makes the human soul cry out to the Divine all the time. But most importantly the poverty to listen to other voices when things are not going on right. Nigeria has been bleeding for the past eleven years. Our leaders seem not to understand the mystery of blessed poverty or humility. At the beginning of Lent. The Catholic Bishop’s conference organized a public protest, in humble request to God for the bloodshed in our country. The criticism was beyond imagination, now there are more groups calling for more protests for the same reason we pray that our leaders listen to them.

The saints despite their height and achievement in life; have developed a great sense of humility which made them correct their steps very easily even when they faulter. In the bible, David is regarded as a man after God’s own heart. Many of us are familiar with the story and the life of David with Urial’s wife (2 Samuel 11:5-27). The most important element of David’s life is his display of his poverty of the spirit and his utter need of God’s assistance. The saints are men and women who constantly sort the help of God because they are in touch with their lack. Our failure as a people is nothing new to human experience, our inability to seek God’s assistance is what is new. Some of our leaders whether religious or pollical have failed us and have continued to display some degree of arrogance, that is unbelievable. Saint Augustine said: It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.

Fr Stephen Ojapah is a priest of the Missionary Society of St Paul. He is equally the director for Interreligious Dialogue and Ecumenism for the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, a member of IDFP. He is also a KAICIID Fellow. ([email protected])