The Poor And The Blessed

Beati inquit pauperes. Non omnes beati pauperes; paupertas enim media est: possunt et boni et mali esse pauperes. Nisi forte ille intelligendus pauper beatus, quem Propheta descripst dicens: Quia melior pauper justus quam dives mendax. Beatus pauper qui clamavit, et Dominus exaudivit eum: pauper a crimine, pauper a vitiis, pauper in quo mundi princeps nihil invenit: pauper illius aemulus pauperis, qui cum dives esser, propter nos pauper factus est. Unde plene Mattheus aperuit, dicens, Beati pauperes spiritu; pauper enim spiritu non inflatur, non extollitur mente carnis suae. Prima ergo ista benedictio est: cum deposuero omne peccatum, et exuero omnem malitiam, et simplicitate contentus fuere, inops malorum, superest ut et mores meos temperem. Quid enim mihi prodest carere saecularibus, nisi fuero mitis atque mansuetus? Nam qui sequitur viam rectam, sequitur utique illum qui ait: Discite a me quia mitis sum, et humilis corde. Depone igitur quae improba sunt, egeto vitiis secundum bonam paupertatem, mitiga affectum tuum; ut non irascaris, aut certe iratus ne peccaveris, juxta quod scriptum est: Irascimini et nolite peccare. Praeclarum est enim motum temperare consilio; nec minorir virtutis ducitur, cohibere iracundiam, indignationemque compescere, quam omnino non irasci; cum plerumque illud lentius, hoc fortius aestimetur. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Expositio Evangelii secundum Lucam, Liber V Source: Migne PL 15.1650C-1651B

Blessed are the poor. 1 Not all the poor are blessed; poverty is a relative term, one can be poor in good or in evil. Unless perhaps it is to be understood that the poor man who is blessed is he whom the Prophet describes, saying, 'Because better is the poor righteous man than the rich deceiver.' 2 Blessed the poor man who has cried out and the Lord has heard him; a man poor in crime, a man poor in vice, a poor man in whom the prince of the world finds nothing, 3 a poor man who is emulous of that poor man who when He was rich became poor for us. 4 Whence Matthew more openly says, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' 5 for the poor man is not puffed up in his spirit, nor is his lifted up in the sense of his flesh. This then is the first blessing: when we shall have cast off every sin and sloughed off every wickedness and are content to live in simplicity, impoverished in evil, abundant in temperance of conduct. For what does it profit me to lack worldly things, unless I be meek and humble? For he who follows the right way, follows Him who said, 'Learn from me because I am meek and humble in heart.' 6 Cast off, then, that which is immoral. Be poor to vice as good poverty, control your passions, that you be not angry, or certainly being angry do not sin, according to what is written, 'Be angry and sin not.' 7 Clear it is that reason tempers emotion, and it is not accounted a lesser virtue to curb anger and to repress indignation, than not to be angered at all; often the latter is easier, the former is judged greater. Saint Ambrose, from the Commentary On The Gospel of Saint Luke, Book 5 1 Lk 6.20 2 Prov 19.1 3 Jn 14.30 4 2 Cor 8.9 5 Mt 5.3 6 Mt 11.19 7 Ps 4.5