To be poor in spirit is to do God’s will with humility. As G.K. Chesterton puts it, St Francis became a beggar of stones not of bread. He was the reversal of a beggar, asking for stones to rebuild a church.
Francis took on manual labor and entered through the “low gate”. It was through that manual labor that Francis achieved both the rebuilding of the Church and his own house — the soul.
Today manual labor is increasingly looked upon a a drudgery and those who who work with their hands as lowly laborers. St. Francis elevates manual labor for us as a pathway to holiness since it can enrich us with the currency of heaven — a humility that responds to the Spirit.