2Cor 8, 1-9 Jesus Christ for your sake became poor

2Corinthians 8

(2Cor 8, 1-9) Jesus Christ for your sake became poor

[1] We want you to know, brothers, of the grace of God that has been given to the churches of Macedonia, [2] for in a severe test of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their profound poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. [3] For according to their means, I can testify, and beyond their means, spontaneously, [4] they begged us insistently for the favor of taking part in the service to the holy ones, [5] and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and to us through the will of God, [6] so that we urged Titus that, as he had already begun, he should also complete for you this gracious act also. [7] Now as you excel in every respect, in faith, discourse, knowledge, all earnestness, and in the love we have for you, may you excel in this gracious act also. [8] I say this not by way of command, but to test the genuineness of your love by your concern for others. [9] For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake he became poor although he was rich, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

(CCC 2545) All Christ's faithful are to "direct their affections rightly, lest they be hindered in their pursuit of perfect charity by the use of worldly things and by an adherence to riches which is contrary to the spirit of evangelical poverty" (LG 42 § 3). (CCC 2833) "Our" bread is the "one" loaf for the "many." In the Beatitudes "poverty" is the virtue of sharing: it calls us to communicate and share both material and spiritual goods, not by coercion but out of love, so that the abundance of some may remedy the needs of others (Cf. 2 Cor 8:1-15). (CCC 2546) "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mt 5:3). The Beatitudes reveal an order of happiness and grace, of beauty and peace. Jesus celebrates the joy of the poor, to whom the Kingdom already belongs (Cf. Lk 6:20): The Word speaks of voluntary humility as "poverty in spirit"; the Apostle gives an example of God's poverty when he says: "For your sakes he became poor" (St. Gregory of Nyssa, De beatitudinibus 1: PG 44, 1200D; cf. 2 Cor 8:9).