An Analysis Of Poverty Of Spirit By Johannes Baptist Metz
Anabella Morabito
2/9/2015
Spirituality and Justice - Paper 1
Poverty of Spirit - Johannes Baptist Metz
"To accept our innate poverty or to become slave of anxiety" In his work, Poverty of Spirit, Johannes Baptist Metz aludes to the innate poverty of the human being. Metz exclaims that "We are all beggars. We are all members of a species that is not sufficient unto itself." (25) In our Western framework of interpretation it is a challenge to truly understand the poverty of which Metz is speaking of; in a capitalistic society it is masochistic to take upon the cross of poverty, and as a theologians we fear that this may lead to a romanticizing of poverty. But we must be weary of our language, and how our interpretations can lead us astray. This is not the poverty Metz speaks of, rather Metz is aluding to our spirit as insufficient without the abundance of God. Metz is inviting us to understand ourselves as dependent on the life-giving God, who provides us with our essence and our spirit. In a sense this is the definition of religion - re-ligio - the word literally means to connect once again. This is God is inviting us to connect once again with Godself, with our own self, and with one another, in accepting our incompleteness unto ourselves. Metz explains:
"If we leave our dreamy conceptions aside and focus on our naked poverty, when the mask falls and the core of our Being is revealed, it soon becomes obvious that we are religious 'by nature,' that religion is the secret dowry of our Being. In the midst of our existence there unfolds the bond (re-ligio) that ties us o the infinitely transcendent mystery of God, the insatiable interest in the Absolute that captivates us and underlines our poverty." (26)
Hence, in page 28 when Metz offers the option of accepting our pover or living in anxiety he is inviting us to accept that fact that without this liberating acknowledgement of poverty we will forever wear a mask which does not truly capture who we are in essence.
2/9/2015
Spirituality and Justice - Paper 1
Poverty of Spirit - Johannes Baptist Metz
"To accept our innate poverty or to become slave of anxiety" In his work, Poverty of Spirit, Johannes Baptist Metz aludes to the innate poverty of the human being. Metz exclaims that "We are all beggars. We are all members of a species that is not sufficient unto itself." (25) In our Western framework of interpretation it is a challenge to truly understand the poverty of which Metz is speaking of; in a capitalistic society it is masochistic to take upon the cross of poverty, and as a theologians we fear that this may lead to a romanticizing of poverty. But we must be weary of our language, and how our interpretations can lead us astray. This is not the poverty Metz speaks of, rather Metz is aluding to our spirit as insufficient without the abundance of God. Metz is inviting us to understand ourselves as dependent on the life-giving God, who provides us with our essence and our spirit. In a sense this is the definition of religion - re-ligio - the word literally means to connect once again. This is God is inviting us to connect once again with Godself, with our own self, and with one another, in accepting our incompleteness unto ourselves. Metz explains:
"If we leave our dreamy conceptions aside and focus on our naked poverty, when the mask falls and the core of our Being is revealed, it soon becomes obvious that we are religious 'by nature,' that religion is the secret dowry of our Being. In the midst of our existence there unfolds the bond (re-ligio) that ties us o the infinitely transcendent mystery of God, the insatiable interest in the Absolute that captivates us and underlines our poverty." (26)
Hence, in page 28 when Metz offers the option of accepting our pover or living in anxiety he is inviting us to accept that fact that without this liberating acknowledgement of poverty we will forever wear a mask which does not truly capture who we are in essence.