I think that this quotation refers to many things apart from financial difficulty.  I think that you can be lacking in many things like friendship, love, excitement, interest- and these often have negative affects on us like depression. I think the quotation is talking about how God can satisfy what we lack- afterall it is not healthy people who need a doctor but those who ail- in the same way God acts in people’s lives who realise they are lacking something and ask for salvation…

I thought one translation has “Blessed are the poor in heart”. Does it mean “the poor are blessed in heart”?If so, could it be that making do with less encourages closeness to God, in having a simpler life, and relying on close relationships with our neighbours ?  Perhaps Jesus means they are good rather than happy? Having less or being untramelled with goods and worries about how to make our money work for us may make us closer to a spiritual awareness.

It seems that the western world has difficulty in accepting that we are rich in so many ways.  The difficulty we have is the ability to recognise the difference between our wants and need.  A celebrity was quoted recently that she was “possession rich but money poor”

This reminds me that all we possess are gifts which we should share.

What we do with what we have depends on our priorities, and we need guidance in that respect.

what a difficult message! How many of us today would give up what we have (like Levi) to become poor for Jesus sake and be happy because we would inherit the kingdom.  And yet it is in part of the world where poverty is rife that people seem to have a happy and joyful faith. There are many people below the poverty line in this country - but are they aware of this amazing promise and source of hope in our own communties or has this become lost in the expectations of the welfare state.

Our parish spent last Lent looking at the Beatitudes and they caused us lots of problems!
Matthew puts this as ‘poor in spirit’, that is the humble, those who know their need of God; but Luke is talking about the economically poor.
Rich people (which includes most of us in the Western world) tend to think we don’t need God.  We envy people who become rich (look at the fuss over the recent Euro lottery winners) yet riches can bring great unhappiness.
Mother Teresa said we are poor in the West because we are lonely and don’t know God.
Poverty means not relying on material wealth for happiness.

Blessings to you all. - I really appreciate the daily texts but beibg an old fogey I wish the quotes were taken from the Authorised or Revised Standard Versions - the old “biblespeak” seems so much more meaningful to me…......
God Bless