Not those who love poverty

Some have judged that by the poor in spirit here are meant those who love poverty, those who are free from covetousness and from the love of money, who fear riches rather than desire them. Perhaps they have been led to judge so by confining their thought entirely to the bare term, or by considering that weighty observation of Saint Paul, that the love of money is the root of all evil (1 Timothy 6:10). And from this many have stripped themselves not only of riches but of all worldly goods. From this also the vows of voluntary poverty seem to have arisen in the Church of Rome, it being supposed that so eminent a degree of this fundamental grace must be a large step toward the kingdom of heaven.

But these do not seem to have observed, first, that the expression of Saint Paul must be understood with some restriction. Otherwise it is not true, for the love of money is not the root, the only root, of all evil. There are a thousand other roots of evil in the world, as sad experience shows every day. His meaning can only be that it is the root of very many evils, perhaps of more than any other single vice. Second, that this sense of the expression, poor in spirit, will by no means suit our Lord's present design, which is to lay a general foundation on which the whole fabric of Christianity may be built, a design which would in no way be answered by guarding against one particular vice. So that, even if this were supposed to be one part of his meaning, it could not possibly be the whole. Third, that it cannot be supposed to be any part of his meaning, unless we charge him with obvious repetition, since if poverty of spirit were only freedom from covetousness, from the love of money, or from the desire of riches, it would coincide with what he afterwards mentions. It would be only a branch of purity of heart.