Read Online Poverty of Spirit Johannes Baptist Metz 9780809137992 Books

Product details Paperback 56 pages Publisher Paulist Press; Revised edition (May 1, 1998) Language English ISBN-10 0809137992

Poverty of Spirit Johannes Baptist Metz 9780809137992 Books Reviews

• Poverty of Spirit is the finest of models for writers on the spiritual life. Metz' text is meditative not didactic, and this makes all the difference. Rather than a one-way dissemination of his vast knowledge (in Metz' case, "vast" is understated) to his reader, he simply *encounters* several passages of scripture related to poverty of spirit, and then he brings us with him into this encounter. It is not a lesson with discrete (and therefore limited) facts to be learned; instead, it is an invitation into a continuously unfolding relationship with God that is limitless and eternal---at least insofar as we are willing to drink the cup of our own poverty. I suspect this essay is the fruit of Metz' deep practice of lectio-divina, which is why it is one of those rare extra-scriptural texts that are well suited to lectio for the reader.
  
  Over the last ten years, I have read Poverty of Spirit at least annually---its brevity allows me to read it in an afternoon; its profundity allows me to chew on it for months. With each reading, I have been confounded, challenged, and consoled in different ways, so much so that the principles Metz explores have become axiomatic in my spiritual life. Passages that stood mute during one reading have in another reading become the choirs of angels, even the voice of God himself convicting my soul. After twenty years of marriage, my wife can surprise and delight me without warning; I suspect the same will continue to be true with this book.
  
  Although a Catholic theologian, Metz writes to that which is most fundamental in the spiritual life---the relationship of God and man made incarnate through Christ who humbled himself to accept the full poverty of man. There are no denominational battle lines here, making Poverty of Spirit a book for every person who wants to grow in his or her spiritual life.
• With writing such a this on each page, Metz anticipates the Liberation Theology theologians. "There is the poverty of the average person’s life, whose life goes unnoticed by the world. It is the poverty of the commonplace. There is nothing heroic about it; it is the poverty of the common lot, devoid of ecstasy. Jesus was poor in this way. He was no model figure for humanists, no great artist or statesman, no diffident genius. He was a frighteningly simple man, whose only talent was to do good."
• You have to be in the right frame of mind to reap the meanings in this text, but it's such valuable reading, once you get it! It is so hard to grasp what poverty of spirit really means, but there is no better definition, ever, than Metz provides. Tiny book, unbounded message.
• The craftsmanship of the language is as beautiful as are the concepts being presented. The author is German, and the translator did a brilliant job. What an amazing and thought provoking text. Requiring just an hour or two to read, this work could require a lifetime to absorb! A short powerhouse of concept breaking ideas. I will be rereading and meditating on this for some time to come.
• This isn't a "one and done" book. I've had a copy for nearly 40 years and read it two or three times a year and discover new insights each year. I ordered these books for friends.
• I read this book at least twice a year for the last 15 years and find something new to ponder each time.
• This is a deeply and profoundly philosophical take on what it means to be “poor in spirit,” as Jesus begins the beatitudes. It requires slow, meditative reading to grasp the depth of his wisdom.
• One of the finest and most profound meditations on Christ outside the epistles of St. Paul. Dismisses the dreamy and romantic notions of the obedience of faith. But one has to start somewhere, as by learning the goodness of parents with the dreamy and romantic notions of believing in Santa Claus. The goodness of God is imaged in the immeasurable gift of Christ but learned in the beginning with dreamy and romantic notions of Jesus walking on water. Knowing how easy it is to have once believed in a Santa Claus like redemption,Jesus often told people not to speak of the miracles. On the other hand Johannes Metz will not distract from the meaning of the self offering of Christ for you and me by focusing only on the visible and tangible from the life and death of Christ--as per Mel Gibson.. Nor distract from the meaning of the resurrection by examining the visible and tangible on the shroud of Turin--as per CNN. Read this short book, or ask the recently persecuted Christians for a grasp of the meaning of the obedience of faith that is not an idea in one's head because it feels like a poverty of spirit in the depth of one's heart. Ask faithful Muslims who are appalled over the terrorists claiming to act for them in the name of God. Ask the faithful Jew who is unable to undo the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Ask the child who cannot keep his parents from deportation to Mexico. Ask the North American Indian who cannot live his heritage. Or read the book and understand the meaning of Poverty of Spirit. Recall "But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children" (Luke 2328).