Jesus Is Poor

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

Jesus, the Blessed One, is poor. The poverty of Jesus is much more than an economic or social poverty. Jesus is poor because he freely chose powerlessness over power, vulnerability over defensiveness, dependency over self-sufficiency. As the great “Song of Christ” so beautifully express: “He . . . did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, . . . becoming as human beings are” (Philippians 2:6-7). This is the poverty of spirit that Jesus chose to live.

Jesus calls us who are blessed as he is to live our lives with that same poverty.

Jesus’ Self-Portrait

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for uprightness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness” (Matthew 5:3-10). These words offer us a self-portrait of Jesus. Jesus is the Blessed One. And the face of the Blessed One shows poverty, gentleness, grief, hunger, and thirst for uprightness, mercy, purity of heart, a desire to make peace, and the signs of persecution.

The whole message of the Gospel is this: Become like Jesus. We have his self-portrait. When we keep that in front of our eyes, we will soon learn what it means to follow Jesus and become like him.

Jesus, the Blessed One

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

Jesus is the Blessed One. The word benediction, which is the Latin form for the word blessing, means “to say (dicere) good things (bene).” Jesus is the Blessed One because God has spoken good things of him. Most clearly we hear God’s blessing after Jesus has been baptized in the river Jordan, when “suddenly there was a voice from heaven, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; my favour rests on him’” (Matthew 3:16-17).

With this blessing Jesus starts his public ministry. And all of that ministry makes known to us that this blessing is not only for Jesus but also for all who follow him.

Jesus’ Compassion

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

Jesus is called Emmanuel, which means “God-with-us” (See Matthew 1:22-23). The great paradox of Jesus’ life is that he, whose words and actions are in no way influenced by human blame or praise but are completely dependent on God’s will, is more “with” us than any other human being.

Jesus’ compassion, his deep feeling-with-us, is possible because his life is guided not by human respect but only by the love of his heavenly Father. Indeed, Jesus is free to love us because he is not dependent on our love.

Jesus’ Freedom

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

Jesus was truly free. His freedom was rooted in his spiritual awareness that he was Beloved Child of God.. He knew in the depth of his being that he belonged to God before he was born, that he was sent into the world to proclaim God’s love, and that he would return to God after his mission was fulfilled. This knowledge gave him the freedom to speak and act without having to please the world and the power to respond to people’s pains with the healing love of God. That’s why the Gospels says, “Everyone in the crowd was trying to touch him because power came out of him that cured them all” (Luke 6:19).

The Unfinished Business of Forgiveness

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

What makes us cling to life even when it is time to “move on”? Is it our unfinished business? Sometimes we cling to life because we have not yet been able to say, “I forgive you, and I ask for your forgiveness.” When we have forgiven those who have hurt us and asked forgiveness from those we have hurt, a new freedom emerges. It is the freedom to move on.

When Jesus was dying he prayed for those who had nailed him to the cross: “Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). That prayer set him free to say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46).

The Breath of God Within Us

(Please purchase your own copy of Bread for the Journey: A Daybook of Wisdom and Faith.)

When we speak about the Holy Spirit, we speak about the breath of God breathing in us. The Greek word for “spirit” in pneuma, which means “breath.” We are seldom aware of our breathing. It is so essential for life that we only think about it when something is wrong with it.

The Spirit of God is like our breath. God’s spirit is more intimate to us than we are to ourselves. We might not often be aware of it, but without it we cannot live a “spiritual life.” It is the Holy Spirit of God who prays in us, who offers us the gifts of love, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, gentleness, peace, and joy. It is the Holy Spirit who offers us the life that death cannot destroy. Let us always pray, “Come, Holy Spirit, come.”