Total Donation: Homily for the 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

 1 Kgs 17:10-16

Ps 146

Heb 9:24-28

Mk 12:38-44

 

We all have a lot in common with the widows from the first reading and the Gospel. The commonality has nothing to do with finances but everything to do with total self donation; with offering all of oneself and throwing oneself on God’s mercy in complete trust.  

 

Imagine the setting of the first reading.  The drought had been prolonged. Stores of wheat were running low.  The olive trees were not producing there was no oil.  While there are few things worse than anticipating death through starvation,  there is no greater pending catastrophe for a mother than to realize that she AND her child will die of starvation? And given the reality of a child's size and metabolism compared with that of an adult, the child will most likely die first, the mother being compelled to watch. Despite this possibility, the widow,  in her generosity and faith acquiesced to Elijah’s request to make a small cake with the little she had for herself and her son.  She did so on the basis of Elijah's promise that “the jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.”  By sharing all that she had remaining with this itinerant exiled prophet the widow provided for herself and her son in ways that she never could have imagined. 

 

There were two options for the Gospel this morning:  The short option was limited to the parable of the widow’s mite.  The slightly longer option however, put the widow’s mite into more of a context.    

 

The widow’s story is placed in direct contrast to that of the scribes who despite outward shows of piety and prayer devoured the homes and estates of widows leaving them even more destitute than they already were through their lack of social status and inheritance.  There are many modern versions of these scribes; schemers and manipulators who feast on the paltry holdings of the undernourished, the elderly, the lonely, and the desperate.   Sometimes they do the perp walk.  Other times they bask in their profits.   

 

The parable of the widow’s mite is difficult to read and internalize. Commentators vary in their interpretations.  One commentator notes the widow’s generosity but then asks, “Is she generous to a fault.?”  Does Jesus really approve of her action or is he critiquing established religion that manipulated her to give what she couldn’t afford?  Is Jesus romanticizing the poor such that this Gospel can be used by the prosperous to keep the poor in that condition?  I don’t agree.  Indeed it is a bizarre interpretation that suggests hostility on the part of the writer toward the Church itself. 

 

"Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."  Whenever Jesus prefaces a statement with Amen we know it is important; that it is the crux of His argument.  

 

The woman’s poverty was determined not by her meager copper coins but by her state of widowhood.  In the Ancient Near East widow’s had no power or social standing.  They could not inherit or own land.  They were entirely dependent on male relatives, particularly their sons, and the kindness of neighbors and friends for support.  The two coins in her hand were most likely all she had, and they amounted to nothing.  But, the little she had wasn’t going to move her from social dependence to financial independence.  With the coins or without them the widow was still dependent.  She was dependent on society for material things.  More importantly she was totally dependent on the grace of God and thus she was rich in His mercy.

 

The widow made a total donation of self depending no longer on her own resources, as meager as they were, but on God’s providence.  

 

When, in a few minutes, we say, “Thy will be done” can we do so without caveat or exception? Without adding a detailed footnote as to what we want that will to be? 

 

If so, we will stand with this widow and rejoice in the same grace. 

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The photos are from Bašelj in Slovenia on All Saints Day.  

Geraniaums in the window of the farmhouse

A bicyclist passing near the farm. 

A second cyclist converted to black and white. 

The advantage of the new photo processing program made it possible to remove the power lines behind the tree. 

Fr. Jože's sister preparing lunch before we headed off to the Mass in Preddvor and thence back to LJ.  

+ Fr. Jack, SJ, MD