ANAWIM YAHWEH

ANAWIM YAHWEH

Usually this expression is mistranslated as “the poor of Yahweh.” It is not primarily a question of material poverty, for by itself poverty has never sanctified anybody. Extreme cases of poverty and destitution are found in city slums, and usually slums breed criminals, not saints. Nor is it merely spiritual poverty in the sense of inner detachment in the midst of abundance. The spirituality of the “anawim”, reflecting the mentality of Jesus, is characterised mainly by dependence and openness with regard to God. The “anawim” are simple and sincere, they spontaneously cling to God, they are empty of self. Their ego is nowhere visible. With childlike simplicity they have recourse to God in all their needs, material and spiritual. For them, God has become their own dear “Abba”, a living and loving person, almost a member of their own family. They speak to him, they beg him, they entreat him, they just feel at home with him. Reverential fear hardly enters into their vocabulary. All their relations with God are pervaded by a quiet trust and trustful confidence. All these particular virtues are in reality the result and flowering of a remarkably deep faith. Their faith is like the hidden root of a tall, healthy tree that produces a variety of flowers and fruits: the virtues of the “anaw.” The visible fruits of the tree are conspicuous testimony of the strength of the root.

This spirituality that goes to the heart of the discipleship preached by Jesus produces people who are open to God, confident trustful, poor and lowly in their own eyes, dependent on God, simple, childlike, joyful, peaceful, restful, unperturbed. The “anaw” cannot boast of his own achievements, for he knows that he owes everything to God. He is a perpetual receiver, who can only empty himself to be filled by God. When everything is said and done, the “anaw” is a person caressed by God, and the caresses of his “Abba” make him genuinely humble and deeply grateful. (L. Bermejo, Alone with God alone, Book II, pp. 85-86)